


The Ravager

by laxit21, mewmew666



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Origin Story, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Noah Kuttler isn't Felicity's father, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Season/Series 02, olicity au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2019-06-15 03:26:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 45
Words: 55,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15403923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laxit21/pseuds/laxit21, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mewmew666/pseuds/mewmew666
Summary: Slade Wilson's plan for revenge against Oliver took time, money and no shortage of lives to pull together. His plan didn't anticipate Felicity Smoak. How will his plan change now that his lost-lost daughter is working with the very man he's trying to destroy?





	1. Chapter 1

Oliver hurried down the staircase into the foundry. Felicity met him at the bottom of the stairs and hugged him.

“Still have a ghost problem?” Digg asked walking over to him.

“No, I got the message.” He answered before pulling away from Felicity and walking further into the lair. “But we- we have other problems.”

“Wouldn’t be us if we didn’t.”

“Roy was injected with the serum.” Oliver admitted as he put his bow in its case.

“Oh my god, is he okay?” Felicity asked.

“He’s alive, but we’re gonna have to keep an eye on him.”

“And Cyrus Gold?” Digg asked.

“Died on Saturday, buried on Sunday.” The archer paused. “But he was working with someone. I saw him, he wore a mask with the image of- of a skull. He’s trying to mass produce the serum to build an army.”

“For what?”

“You’re a soldier. What’s the primary purpose of an army?”

“War.” Digg answered.

The emerald archer noticed before realizing something. he glanced around the foundry. “Where’s Barry?”

“He went back to Central City. Wanted to get home in time to see them turn on the particle accelerator.” Felicity answered. Her phone then started ringing. “I should take this. Hi.” The phone call didn’t last longer than a minute and when she said goodbye to Barry, she noiticed a box sitting on one of the metal tables. She turned to Oliver and held it out to him. “Barry said he left this for you.”

Oliver opened the box and pulled out a domino mask.

“Even the Arrow deserves a Christmas present.” Digg remarked.

The blond took the mask from Oliver and helped him put it on.

“How do I look?” He asked.

“Like a hero.” Felicity said smiling. Oliver pulled his hood up. “Everything’s gonna change now, isn’t it?” She asked after the happy moment wore off. “Roy surviving the serum changes things. The people who injected him aren’t gonna stop.”

“That’s where we come in.” Oliver assured her.

* * *

 

**Across town**

“-people of Starling. Not the men and women who think that they own it.” Sebastian Blood said during his televised speech. “Together we can help rebuild our city into a place where there are no elites and no repressed. Where we are all brothers and sisters.”

Slade Wilson turned off the broadcast. “So, your campaign begins.”

“This city needs a leader.” Blood answered. “And putting the copycat hoods up to assassinate the mayor was just the first step. The vigilante, he destroyed the centerfuge and the serum along with it.”

“I will arrange for you to receive another sample of my blood, and then you can begin to mass produce the serum again.” Slade’s fist clenched slightly. “When I ask you not to confront the vigilante, you will listen. Remember, your mask can be worn by another.”

Sebastian paused for a moment before asking, “you know who he is under that hood, don’t you?”

“I know exactly who he is. He’s my friend.”

“That’s why you don’t want him dead.”

“Death would be a release from this life, and his sentence has yet to be carried out. I’m going to tear everything he cares about away from him. Destroy those who follow him. Corrupt those he loves. Once he has lost everyone and everything he values, I will drive an arrow through his eye.” 

“Now that we’ve begun destroying his fanboy,” Isabel said walking into the room. “I have a suggestion for our next target.”

“Who?” Blood asked.

Isabel rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Slade. Blood didn’t know it, but he was just as much as pawn in all this as his followers. This wasn’t about creating a better city, it was about destroying it in order to destroy Oliver Queen.

“Go back to your campaign office. The less you know, the better.” Slade told him. Blood gave both Slade and Isabel a look before walking out.

“Who is it?” Slade asked.

“His little slut of a secretary, the one he keeps saying he isn’t sleeping with.” Isabel answered. “I’ve been aching to teach that bitch a lesson. Felicity Smoak should be next.”

“No.” Slade responded. “Not her.”

“Why not? We want to destroy him. Killing her would certainly help with that.”

Slade stood, and faster than she could react, had Isabel pinned against the wall. “Did my answer give any indication that I wanted to be convinced? Felicity Smoak is off-limits.” 

Isabel scoffed and walked away angry. She didn’t understand why everyone, including Slade, seemed to be such big fans of Felicity. She wasn’t that attractive, and wasn’t even good at her job. Slade had seen two pictures of her and suddenly she’s untouchable?

Meanwhile, Slade stared out the window. It wasn’t possible was it? That she’d be here, in this city working for and with his enemy? This Felicity couldn’t possibly be his Felicity.

“She can’t be her.” He said.

“But what if she is?” Shado said from beside him. “You haven’t seen her in a long time. It’s possible she is your Felicity.”

“Even if she is my daughter, it changes nothing.” Slade said.

“Or, it changes everything.”


	2. Chapter 2

**With Slade**

Slade sat in his office, tapping his fingers against the table in succession. He was beginning to get annoyed, which didn’t bode well for his followers. What was the point in having an entire team of cybercriminals at his disposal if they couldn’t even find one piece of intel quickly?

He was pulled out of his agitated, rhythmic tapping when the door to his office opened and a scrawny, scared-looking twenty year old ran in.

“Um- Mr. Wilson, sir-“

“What is it?”

“I- I found the information you asked for.” He stuttered out. This kid might work slow, but he was at least smart enough to know when to be scared. “About Felicity Smoak.”

Slade didn’t respond and held out an arm. The younger man’s hand shook as he handed the file to him. “Did you tell anyone about this matter?”

“W- well, Ms. Rochev asked why we weren’t making more progress with Queen Consolidated’s firewall.” He answered nervously.

Even though Isabel was co-CEO of the company, she did still work for Stellmoor International, and due to some unfortunate state laws, was unable to access QC’s most sensitive and secure files or the server they were on. The only way she, and therefore Slade, could gain access was by getting rid of Oliver, which Slade wouldn’t allow, or hacking into QC. Unfortunately for them, QC’s firewalls and other cybersecurity measures were incredibly complex and strong. 

“And what did you tell her?”

“I said you had asked me to look into some things.” the hacker answered. “I didn’t say what they were.”

“And she didn’t ask for more clarification?” Slade asked.

“No, she just kinda rolled her eyes, scoffed and walked away.” He said nervously.

“Good.” The hacker started to leave, but Slade speaking again stopped him. “I hope I don’t have to remind you to keep this conversation, and the information you found, to yourself. It would be….unfortunate if I discovered you were unable to follow orders.” His eyes widened and he ran from the room.

Chuckling slightly at the reaction, Slade opened the folder he’d been given. It held two sheets of paper. The first one was basically a resume. Felicity Smoak, graduated MIT in 2009 at the top of her class. Masters degrees in computer science and cybersecurity. Headhunted by Wayne Enterpirses, Kord Industries, and Queen Consolidated to name a few.  Ranked 2nd in the National Information Technology competition. The second sheet was a State of Nevada birth certificate for one Felicity Megan Smoak, daughter of Donna Smoak. Her father wasn’t listed.

* * *

 

**With Team Arrow**

Felicity turned to the team after an alert went off on her computer. “Ok, so I might’ve hacked into a federal agency, again, and piggybacked off their top-secret satellite over Starling. Promise you’ll visit me in prison. I know Guantanamo Bay is pretty far but-”

“Felicity, the point.” Oliver said.

“I’ve been running facial recognition and our friend in the skull mask resurfaced.” She said. “He’s at 8th and Elm.”

They were upstairs and out of the foundry within two minutes. By the time Oliver and Digg got to the intersection, the man was gone. Felicity had also lost him on surveillance cams. Then, there was a robbery in progress, which they went to stop. The rest of the night was spent trying to stop as many petty crimes as possible while Felicity uselessly searched for the skull mask guy. Eventually, the team called it a night and headed home.

Felicity was leaving the foundry when she felt like she was being watched, and heard footsteps behind her. She purposefully, and somewhat stupidly, parked down the street from Verdant to avoid too many people asking question. Hoping she’d be safe once she got to her car, she sped up her pace. She heard the footsteps speed up too. She made it to her Mini Cooper and was unlocking the door, when the person came up behind her and slammed her face into the door.

She fell to the ground and when she looked up, she saw the person standing over her was about her height. She couldn’t tell who they were, since they were wearing a mask that covered their face.

“Get up.” They demanded. the voice was somewhat muffled but she could hear it was a woman’s voice. The blonde stood up slowly.

“What do you want from me?’

“To kill you.” she answered, pointing a gun at Felicity. “He told me I couldn’t, but-“

“He? He who? Why do you want me dead?” she started asking. “Do I even know you? None of this makes sense.”

The woman’s hand started shaking. “God, just stop talking! Do you ever shut up? I’m gonna kill you and you still can’t keep your mouth shut for three seconds. I mean, what is it with-?”

The masked woman didn’t finish because a police cruiser, siren and all, drove by. She looked away from Felicity for a second, and before she could look back, Felicity punched her in the face. The blonde immediately regretted it and started wincing, since doing so hurt her hand. The attacker seemed to be in shock at being hit, so Felicity got into her car and drove away. She called Digg and asked for him to stay on the phone with her until she got home, but didn’t say why.

* * *

 

A **cross town**

Isabel returned to Slade’s hideout fuming. She lost her chance to kill Felicity. Who knew when she’d get another?

“And where have you been?” Slade asked from behind her.

“Out.” She answered.

“As in, down the street from Verdant, attempting to kill Ms. Smoak. Even after I informed you she was not to be touched.” Slade said stepping into her personal space.

“You haven’t told me why, so I chose to ignore you.”

“You don’t need to know why. I say leave her alone, you leave her alone.” He moved closer.

“We’re partners, I don’t work for you.” She pointed out.

He didn’t respond for several moments, and then grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the floor. “And yet, it seems we are not equals. Make no mistake, I don’t need you as much as you think.”

“You can’t take over QC without me.” she pointed out.

“You gaining control of Queen Consolidated is convenient, it isn’t necessary to my plans.” Slade said before releasing her. “I have my own plans for Felicity Smoak. Do not go target her again.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity gets a visitor or two and Slade runs into a familiar face.

Felicity had been on edge for the last few days. She wasn’t any closer to find out who her attacker was or why they seemed to want her dead. She hadn’t said anything to Digg or Oliver, since she didn’t have anything to tell them, other than ‘someone tried to kill me’, and didn’t want to inform them until she had some kind of lead on the woman.

Today was a thankfully quiet day at Queen Consolidated. Isabel had dragged Oliver to a meeting with Kord Industries about a possible partnership, so she expected to have the office to herself. If possible, Isabel had become even more hostile towards Felicity than last week. The blonde didn’t know why and had too many other concerns to give it much thought.

Felicity’s peaceful day was ruined when Moira Queen stepped out of the elevator. She wasn’t a fan of Felicity, and Felicity’s tendency to babble only heightened her dislike. To be fair, Felicity didn’t really like Moira that much either. In any case, Felicity now had to interact with Moira, without Oliver there as a buffer.

Her dread was alievated when she saw another person get off the elevator with Moira. She couldn’t see his face just yet, but she could see that he was fairly tall and muscular and had dark hair. When the pair turned to walk towards Oliver’s office, she noticed that the mystery man also had an eyepatch. Which only made him seem even more terrifying in Felicity’s opinion.

“Good morning, Mrs. Queen.” Felicity said, both wanting to be civil and not wanting Moira to hate her even more. She then turned to the man. “Sir.”

“Ms. Smoak.” Moira responded. She tuned to go into Oliver’s office before seeing it was empty. “Where is Oliver?”

“Mr. Queen and Ms. Rochev are at a meeting at Kord Industries to discuss a possible collaboration. They should be back sometime after one.” Felicity explained. “I can take a message if you’d like.”

“No, that’s not necessary.” She said. she then tuned to her guest. “I’m sorry Mr. Wilson.”

“Your son is a busy man, with a company to run.” Slade said, speaking for the first time. “Touring the building can wait.”

Moira needed Slade to invest in QC. If she let him leave now, the chances of getting support from him would decrease dramatically. So, she suggested the only other person in the room. “I’m sure Ms. Smoak would be happy to give you a tour.”

“Oh, well, I-“ the blonde tried to come up with an excuse. Something about Slade seemed off and she didn’t want to do this.

“Come on, Ms. Smoak. I’m sure paperwork can wait for an hour or two.” Moira said, in a ‘do not argue with me’ voice.

“Sure.” Felicity said, giving in. “Just give me a moment to tidy things up for when I get back and get someone to cover the phones.”

“Of course.” Slade responded.

Two minutes later, Felicity had stalled as long as she could and led Slade to an elevator so she could show him the building.

“Is there a specific department you were interested in seeing, Mr. Wilson?”

“Please, call me Slade. And no, there was nothing in particular.” He answered. “How long have you worked for this company?”

“Three years.”

Slade’s tour of QC lasted a little more than an hour, but for Felicity, it felt like days. She kept getting weird vibes from Slade that she couldn’t explain. He was both creepy and intimidating, which kept making her nervous. Additionally, every now and then during the tour he’d say something that made her think that they’d met before. She was positive that they hadn’t, but it still freaked her out. Thankfully, the Australian left eventually and Felicity went back to the executive floor.

“Where have you been?” Isabel yelled as soon as she got off the elevator. “Just because Oliver and I aren’t here doesn’t mean you don’t have to do your job.”

“I was asked to show a potential investor around the building. Neither of the CEOs were here, so it fell to me. Danielle here was nice enough to cover the phones while I was occupied.” Felicity answered.

“What investor?” Isabel asked. She’d worked very hard to make sure every potential investor hadn’t made it into the building. Her whole plan would collapse if another white knight showed up to save Oliver’s ass. “Why didn’t I know about this?”

The blonde was kind of enjoying this. She knew something Isabel didn’t, and she could very easily dodge the question. “He reached out to Mrs. Queen. I’m afraid I don’t fully remember his name. I’m really bad with names after all. It began with an S. Or was it an F? I’m sure if you asked Mrs. Queen, she could tell you.” She knew Moira didn’t like Isabel, so she knew Moira wouldn’t even answer the phone, let alone tell her anything.

Isabel stalked off, muttering in Russian about Felicity. She immediately called Slade, concerned about this new investor, but he waved her off.

* * *

 

**Felicity’s Apartment**

Felicity had just gotten home from work, and was getting ready for another night in the foundry when there was a knock at the door. Curious, she went to open it and saw her mom standing there smiling.

“Mom, what are you doing here?”

“I came to visit you. To surprise you. Surprise!” Donna yelled.

“This isn’t happening.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because, mom, you can’t just drop in on me unannounced. I have a job and responsibilities.” Felicity said.

“I know that, but you aren’t at work right now.” Donna said hopefully.

“No, but I need to go to work.”

“You work in an office. I thought they closed at 6.”

“They do, I’m talking about my other job.” She explained. Her phone then beeped. “Look, I’m sorry mom, but I gotta go.”

“What? You can’t call in sick just once?!” Donna shouted as Felicity walked out of the building.

* * *

 

**Foundry**

A few hours later, Oliver and Digg were returning to the foundry after another failed attempt to catch and question Brother Blood.

“That was a huge bust.”

“Not necessarily.” Felicity said.

“How? How was that not a waste of time?” Oliver asked angrily. He wasn’t mad at her, just very frustrated at repeating the same thing over and over and still getting no results.

“Because one of his failed recruits gave me something to go on.” She answered. “He had a very distinct tattoo that I was able to use to ID him. I think I know where he’s finding some of these people.”

“Where?” Digg asked.

“Two of the guys tonight, one from before Christmas and one of the failed attempts from last week all wound up in the same halfway house after getting out of prison. Some were living there years apart but it’s the one thing they have in common.”

“Makes sense. People just getting out of prison, trying to pull their lives back together, makes them prime targets for people wanting to recruit for their cult.” Digg said. “If Brother Blood’s got a follower working there, it would be like a buffet for them.”

“Do we know anything about the facility?”

“Running searches on everyone who works there now. Hopefully we’ll get something to pass off to Lance.”

* * *

 

**McGuire’s Bar**

After Felicity left Donna alone in her house, the elder Smoak decided to go out for a drink. She and Felicity didn’t have the best relationship, but she hoped her daughter would’ve at least been a little happy to see her. She hoped wrong.

Donna was waiting for her tab when she felt someone come up behind her.

“I always wondered how I’d feel when I saw you again.” Slade said from behind her. Donna swung around in shock. “Now I know.”

“You!” She got out of the chair, stood to her full height and slapped him as hard as she could.

“I take it you’re upset.”

“Gee, you think?” Donna responded. She then realized Slade probably wasn’t there for her. “Does she know you’re here? Did you tell her who you are?”

“No, not yet. I saw her, briefly. Didn’t tell her who I was though. It didn’t seem like a good time or place for that.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade makes a move and secrets are revealed.

**Queen Mansion**

The next night, Starling was gripped with panic. A group of hackers calling themselves Brother Eye had hacked into the city’s power and broadcasted a message claiming to have control over the city and threatening a new world order would follow. A few hours later, they hacked into Starling National Bank, leading to panic and almost a riot at said bank.

With Felicity being the best chance to catch them, Oliver went home, following a text from Thea. The search would take Felicity a few hours, so there wasn’t anything he could really do. He got to the mansion and ran into his mother. Oliver and Moira were arguing in the foyer when a male voice called out. “Mrs. Queen, is everything ok?”

“Yes, thank you.” Moira said, going back into the living room and Oliver followed. “My son just dropped by. Oliver I’d like you to meet Slade Wilson.”

Slade stood up an approached Oliver. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Queen.”

“I tried to introduce the two of you a few days ago, but you weren’t at the office.” Moira said.

“Thankfully, Ms. Smoak was kind enough to give me a tour.” Slade said to Oliver.

“What are you doing here?”

“Mr. Wilson just made a sizable contribution to my campaign.”

“How generous of him.” Oliver said.

Slade launched into an explanation about the city needing a pro-business mayor like Moira. An awkward toast and tour of the mansion followed soon after. Luckily, while Slade was trying to keep up appearances, Oliver was able to get away long enough to call Felicity. Felicity didn’t answer, as she was busy trying to track down Brother Eye. So, Oliver called Sara next. Sara ran into the foundry and told Digg and Roy to suit up, saying there was someone at Oliver’s house planning to kill Oliver and his whole family.

Sara and Roy arrived at the mansion right as Slade’s tour was wrapping up. he didn’t seem about to kill anyone, so they both pretended to be there to see their friend and girlfriend respectively. The look on Slade’s face when he heard Sara’s voice almost made the Canary laugh a little. Slade, Oliver, Sara and Roy all stood, waiting for a fight to start when Slade announced he should leave. Sara told Oliver Digg was outside, with a clear shot and he offered to walk Slade to his car.

Once outside, Oliver confronted Slade about being behind what happened with Cyrus Gold and the man in the skull mask. Slade countered with mentioning Digg hadn’t taken the shot and killed Slade yet. He said John was alive, but indisposed and got into his car.

“What do you want?”

“Five years ago, I made you a promise. Do you remember? Well, I’m here to fulfill it.” Slade said menacingly. “One more thing. Stay away from Felicity Smoak.”

Slade might have rage and Mirakuru-related hallucination issues but he was still her father. As her father, he didn’t want her involved with men like Oliver Queen. As his sworn enemy, he didn’t want his daughter siding with the enemy. He drove away leaving a very confused, and concerned, Oliver standing in the driveway.

**Next night**

All of Felicity’s leads on Brother Eye were a bust. As soon as she recognized their virus as the same supervirus she’d written back at MIT, she knew there was no chance of stopping it. The blonde didn’t like to brag, but she was that good at programming. She threw in the towel for the night and went home. Of course, as soon as she got home, she and her mother got into an argument. Donna didn’t understand why Felicity was annoyed that she’d shown up unannounced. This led to fight about priorities and Felicity always feeling like a disappointment.

Soon after, Donna claimed to have ‘gotten the message’ and packed to leave. The mother and daughter talked while she packed, and that’s when Felicity discovered Donna came to Starling because she won a free flight. Given what was happening with Brother Eye, the hacker realized the timing wasn’t a coincidence.

“Mom, someone wanted you to be here.” Felicity said right as the door was broken in.

Both Smoaks were taken by two men in ski masks. When the bags were pulled off their heads, Felicity could see they were some kind of warehouse, which had a very impressive computer set-up front and center. She assumed, correctly, that this was Brother Eye. Cooper Seldon, who should’ve been dead, stepped out of the shadows. He then, like a stereotypical Bond villain, explained his whole plan to Felicity, before threatening Donna to get her to hack into the Treasury Department’s system. For all his talk about Felicity being a sellout and him being a revolutionary, it was all about money.

 

Meanwhile, Slade had gone to Felicity’s apartment. He didn’t know when Donna was leaving and wanted to reveal his identity to Felicity while she was still in town. He arrived at the address one of his men had found for him, only for the apartment to look like it had been attacked. Both Felicity and Donna were gone. He rushed back to his office, hoping one of his followers would find her or she’d reach out to Queen and he could track her that way.

 

Felicity did as Cooper asked, not wanting him to hurt her or her mom. When she was done, he ziptied her to the table she was working at and left. As soon as the door closed, she sprung into action. Cooper’s ‘friends’ had taken Felicity’s phone when they abducted her; they forgot to take Donna’s. Taking advantage of the mistake, Felicity used its signal to get a message to Oliver.

 

In the foundry, Oliver was starting to worry about Felicity when his phone, Digg’s and Roy’s started beeping. They all received the same text message, which read ‘Take by Brother Eye. At abandoned warehouse at 14th and O’Neil. Hurry.’ Everyone suited up and left.

They arrived at the warehouse, and Oliver was getting ready to explain his plans when Roy pointed to something behind him.

“Hey kid.” Slade said. He wearing the same tactical gear Oliver had seen him use on the island.

“What are you doing here?” Oliver asked. “Are they working for you? Are you the reason-?”

“No, I have nothing to do with this. But we seem to have the same agenda at the moment, so I won’t kill you or your comrades now.” Slade answered. “Are we going to rescue Ms. Smoak or not?”

“Why do you care?” Roy asked. Slade didn’t bother to answer.

 From the room where Felicity and Donna were sitting, they could hear the faint sounds of a fight. The hacker hoped it was Oliver and not Cooper’s partners attacking the armored trucks. The fighting suddenly got louder. Cooper stormed into the room and seemed ready to dispose of both women.

“I did what you asked, you don’t have to kill us.”

He didn’t respond, instead just pointed the gun at her face. Donna yelled at him, saying he could threaten her, but he better not threaten her daughter. Cooper made snide remark about Donna not having it in her, to which Donna told him, without a weapon, Cooper wouldn’t last ten seconds against Felicity.

“You’re right. He wouldn’t.” Slade said, stepping into the room with Oliver right behind him.

“Put the gun down.” The archer yelled.

“You always were good, but so am I.” Cooper remarked to his ex. Two motion sensored machine guns locked onto Oliver and Slade. It only took around a minute to disable both of them. While that was happening, Cooper untied Felicity and pulled her up by the hair. Slade and Oliver were finished with the guns right as Cooper aimed the gun at Felicity’s head again.

Slade saw red and began firing. A bullet went through Cooper’s shoulder and he dropped the gun. Unfortunately, it went through Felicity’s body first. Oliver went over to untie Donna, while Slade stalked up to Cooper. He started punching him as hard as he could. After a few blows, Cooper’s face wasn’t looking like a face anymore.

“Stay. Away. From. Felicity.”

“Slade, you’re killing him.” Oliver yelled.

“Good, he should die. He could’ve killed her.”

“Slade, you need to stop.” Donna said. “She- he could’ve hurt her, yes, but right now she needs a doctor.” Slade turned and saw Felicity, looking terrified and clutching her shoulder. He walked over to her, to help her up, but she moved away from him. “Baby, let him help you.”

“I’m not sure that’s-“

“Look, Arrow or whatever your name is, he’s her father. He’s not going to hurt her.” Donna said in an angry voice.

“He’s- you’re-.” Felicity began to say. She passed out from a combination of blood loss and exhaustion.

Cooper started groaning, so Oliver turned to check on him and make sure he was restrained. By the time he turned back around, Slade, Felicity and Donna were gone.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Slade and Donna met, and why Felicity doesn't remember him

**Las Vegas 1988**

Donna Smoak really wanted today to be over. Most days, she loved her job at the MGM Grand. Vegas was never boring and she got to meet a lot of interesting people. Getting to talk with all of the tourists who came into the casino and hear about their lives always made her shifts exciting.

Today, however, was one of the days she didn’t love her job very much. It started out with a bunch of drunk trust fund kids being obnoxious assholes in her section. She was used to people letting loose in Vegas, but there was a very distinct difference being letting off some steam and going out of your way to make things difficult for everyone else. Eventually, the trust fund kids were removed from the casino and replaced by a number of difficult tables. They weren’t outright mean to her or obnoxious like the other group, but they could’ve been a lot politer. Nothing she did was right, anything, and she meant anything, that went wrong was her fault, including one woman not understanding how black jack worked. They left after a while, and were replaced by the current customer she had, three middle-aged men who were creeping her out. They just kept saying really inappropriate things to her and making these innuendos. She was visibly uncomfortable to the point that other customers were asking if she was okay.

“Hey, Sweetheart.” One of the men said. He kept leering at her. “You from around here?”

“Lived here my whole life.” Donna responded, wanting to drop the drinks and go. These men were middle-aged, she was 19. They probably had kids close to her age. She also hated being called Sweetheart.

“You interested in giving us a more…personal tour of the city?”

“Can’t. I’m at work.”

“What time do you get off?” he asked suggestively.

“Not for a very, very, very long time.” she answered. She turned her attention to another table and headed towards it. As she walked away, she felt someone grab her butt. Reflexively, she grabbed the hand and bent it back, so the person couldn’t pull away. “Do not put your hands on me.”

“I’m just trying to be friendly.” He defended. “You’re a very attractive woman that I’d like to get to know better.”

“And I’m not interested.” Donna said.

The man noticed others were staring at him and began to get angry. “Look, you little bitch-.”

“What kind of an asshole hits on a woman at work?” An Australian man from the table over said to the waitress serving him. He’d been watching the turn of events and getting angrier by the second. He turned towards Donna’s customer. “She has to be nice to you, it’s part of her job, it doesn’t mean she likes you. I’m sure if she could, she would’ve dumped every drink you three have ordered on you.”

“Mind your own business.” Another one of them said.

“I’m not the one who just sexually assault someone.”

“I didn’t assault her.” the first man said. “I’m just trying to have fun.”

“Actually, you did. Get out.”

The group stood up and headed towards the man. “And if we don’t?”

The man put his drink down, pulled a handful of bills on the table and stood. He was taller than all of them. Broader too. He also gave off a ‘do not fuck with’ vibe. One of the three was smart enough to gulp in fear when he realized what might happen. The man who was causing Donna the most trouble stood his ground.

“What are you gonna do?”

The other customer didn’t reply. Instead, he swung a fist at the man. His two friends scurried away, only to be stopped by security. They hadn’t paid their tab after all. Meanwhile, Donna’s savior was pummeling their friend. It took three security personnel to pull him off.

The general manager walked over to where the commotion was. “All of you are banned. Pay your bills and get out. Donna, why don’t you take the rest of the night off?”

She nodded and went to the staff lounge to calm down and grab her stuff. Her three harassers paid their bill while muttering about uptight bitches. One of the bouncers stood between the two parties as a buffer. He looked at the group’s bill for a second before speaking. “You forgot something.”

“What?”

“The tip. After the shit you pulled, you better not think $0 will cut it.” the bouncer said crossing his arms. Begrudgingly, one of them pulled out a handful of bills and laid them on the table. “That’s better. Let’s go.”

The Australian waited for the group to leave before pulling out two $50s and handing one to his waitress. He put the other on Donna’s table. “Sorry for the trouble.” He slowly made his way towards the door.

Donna came out of the lounge, and walked over to the table to clear it. Her coworker had already done that and handed Donna a wad of bills. When Donna saw the $50 on top, her jaw dropped. The other waitress gestured to the Australian man’s retreating back and Donna understood.

She managed to catch up to him before he left the casino. “You know, you didn’t need to tip me too.”

“I didn’t need to, but I did anyway.” He shrugged.

“Thank you, by the way. For, you know-“

“You don’t need to thank me. No one should have to deal with that.” he told her. “I’m Slade.”

“Donna Smoak.” She said smiling. “I’m headed to a diner off the strip for some food. Wanna join me?”

“I don’t see why not. Lead the way.”

They made small talk during the short walk and were seated immediately. The waitress knew Donna, who came in a few times a week after her shift ended.

“So, what brings you to Las Vegas?” Donna asked Slade.

“Work, not a convention though.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m Australian, if you couldn’t tell. I work for their government. Everything else is a secret, so-”

“Let me guess, you’d tell me but then you’d have to kill me. Understandable.”

They stayed in the diner for over an hour talking. Eventually, it got very late and Donna wanted to go home. She suggested they take things back to her place and Slade agreed. A night of passionate lovemaking followed. The next morning, Donna woke up and Slade wasn’t there. There was, however, a note by her bed. He had to catch his flight home. At the bottom, he left his contact information ‘in case she was ever in Sydney’.

Six weeks later, Donna found out she was pregnant. She thought telling Slade was the right thing to do, so she contacted him and told him the news. He flew to Vegas the next day, saying they needed to talk in person.

Eight months later, Donna gave birth to a baby girl named Felicity. For the next four years, Donna and Slade did long distance. He couldn’t quit his job and move to Vegas. She needed to stay in Vegas to take care of her sick father. Whenever he wasn’t on missions for ASIS, he flew to the US to spend time with Felicity and Donna. A week after Felicity turned four, things changed.

Donna had been coming back from preschool with Felicity when another car rammed into them. The driver got out, approached their car, and gave Donna a message for Slade, saying ‘he’d see him soon’. The next time she saw him, they got into a huge fight. Donna kicked him out and refused to let him see Felicity. His job was dangerous and it put both of them in danger. She told him as long as he worked for ASIS, he wasn’t allowed anywhere near Felicity.

Slade tried, and failed, for over a decade to resign from ASIS. At first, he couldn’t because he owed them a certain amount of time as an agent. Then, every time he tried to quit, they talked him out of it. One day in 2004, he woke up and realized he’d missed over 10 years of his daughter’s life. His daughter who probably didn’t remember him. He went to his boss and quit right then and there, this time refusing to budge. The regional head agreed to accept the resignation after his current assignment was over. The assignment to find Yao Fei Gulong.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade's secret is out. How will the team react?

**Starling City- Present**

When Felicity woke up, she felt very warm. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just warm. She opened her eyes, and saw that she was in her bedroom at home. She sat up, feeling like something wasn’t quite right. Her pondering was interrupted when the door opened and her mom came into the room.

“How are you feeling?”

“Ok, I guess. Nothing hurts. How long was I out for?”

“About 18 hours. Your boss called several hours ago and I said you weren’t feeling well.” she answered. “What do you remember?”

The details were hazy. She remembered a dark, dank room. Cooper aiming a gun at her. Oliver and someone else showing up. Her shoulder hurting. “Cooper took us, wanted me to hack into the Treasury department. The Arrow and….some other guy showed up to rescue us. I got hurt, the other guy went cray-cray. Last thing I remember before passing out is you saying that guy was my dad.”

“He is your dad. His name is Slade Wilson.”

“I know. He came to my work a few days ago wanting to talk to my boss. Did you- did you know he could do that?”

“Yes. He was a member of ASIS. I kicked him out when his work followed him home.” her mom said. “Hadn’t seen him since that day.”

“Why’s he here?”

“I’m not sure, baby. Maybe he wanted to see you.” she then changed the subject. “How’s your shoulder?”

“Fine.” Felicity said. “Doesn’t even hurt. Must’ve been a flesh wound.”

Donna was about to contradict her when Felicity’s phone rang. She answered it and Donna left to give her privacy. “Hello.”

“I need you to come to the foundry. Now.” Oliver said in his Arrow voice. “We need to talk about last night.”

“I can’t come right now, I-“

“Felicity. This is not a debate or a request.”

“Fine.” She said before hanging up the phone angrily. She got out of bed and changed. She told her mom she needed some time to process things and was hanging out with a friend.

Verdant was closed when she got there, and the blonde felt suddenly very nervous as she entered the passcode for the foundry. She walked down the stairs to find Oliver, Digg, Roy and Sara all standing there looking various shades of angry.

“Hi.”

“When were you gonna tell us?” Oliver asked. “Were you? Or was you joining the team part of his plan?”

“Right. Because he planned everything out so well, he knew you’d bring me that laptop. He knew you’d confront your mother and get shot, and he knew you’d choose to ask me for help not dying.” Felicity scoffed.

“Idiot.” A voice in her head said.

“Did he?” Digg asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“He’s your father.”

“Last time I saw my dad, I was four years old. All I remembered was that he was big and had dark hair. I walk past dozens a people a day who fit that description. I didn’t even know his name.” Felicity said defensively. “It wasn’t until my mom got in Oliver’s face yesterday that I knew Slade Wilson was my father.”

“You expect us to believe that?”

“Right now, I don’t really care. It’s the truth. You can believe me or not.” she said. “I’m ok, by the way. Since none of you cared to ask.”

It was quiet in the room for several moments.

“What happened after Slade took you out of the warehouse last night? Did he take you anywhere?” Oliver asked.

“I don’t know. I got shot and I was exhausted, so I passed out. I woke up back at home. My mom was there, Slade wasn’t.” She shrugged.

“He just left?”

“Looks like it. Maybe he decided I’m not worth the effort since I work with his archenemy.” If that was true, it still hurt. Her father might be crazy and trying to destroy Oliver, but he was still her father and she still felt like he left, and stayed away, because she wasn’t good enough.

“Or he’s bidding his time.” Sara said. “He’s not gonna give up that easily.”

“So, we’re back at square one.” Digg said. “Felicity-?”

“Nope. I can’t be around you guys right now. You’re on your own, at least for tonight. Probably tomorrow too.”

“Because we wanted the truth?”

“No, because you accused me of being a spy. And because I told you the truth and not one of you believes me. After everything we went through, the three of us at least, I deserve better than what you accused me of.” The blonde said. “Regardless of who my father is.”

“Your father is a madman who-“

“Do you really want to go down this road, Oliver? You wanna talk about parents having blood on their hands? Really? You wanna talk about how I’m trying to stop my dad, but you refused to even think your mom was dangerous until it was basically too late?” Felicity said. That shut Oliver up immediately. “That’s what I thought.” She turned and left the lair.

“Something happened after she left.” Digg said.

“What do you-?”

“Would the Felicity you and I know ever throw the Undertaking or Tommy’s death back in your face?” He asked. “Something happened, I’m telling you.”

* * *

 

**Last night**

When Oliver’s back was turned, Slade picked Felicity up and carried her from the building. Donna pulled off her heels and ran after him. He put her into the truck he drove there and sped off.

“Hospital’s the other direction.” Donna said as he drove.

“I can’t take her to the hospital.” He pulled out a burner phone, dialed it and gave someone on the other end an address.

“She’s been shot. She needs a doctor.”

“Hospitals report all gunshots to the police. I can’t let that happen.” he spat out. “Don’t worry. I know a doctor who owes me a favor.”

“Fine. She gets even slightly worse, I’m taking her to the hospital, even if I have to go through you to do it.” Donna said.

“I always loved how fearless you were.”

“Shut up and drive.” She ordered.

Ten minutes later, they pulled up to an abandoned building on the edge of Starling. Slade took Felicity from the vehicle and headed inside.

“What kinda doctor would meet us here?”

“The kind who lost his license.” He muttered. A very jittery-looking man who was probably on drugs was inside the building, setting things up. Slade put Felicity down on a table and starting barking orders at the man. “She’s been shot. Fix her.”

The man became even more anxious and got to work. He didn’t get far before encountering a problem.

“I- she’s losing a lot of blood. You didn’t tell me I was dealing with a gunshot. I didn’t bring any blood.”

“She dies, you die, and I will make it incredibly painful and drawn out. Understand?”

The man nodded. “She needs a transfusion. Do you know her blood type?”

“O negative.” Donna said from the corner. “Put her back in the car, I’m taking her to the hospital.”

“I can’t-” the doctor stepped forward.

“We have the same blood type. Take my blood, give it to her and patch her up.” Slade said.

“Or, we can just take her to the hospital where it’s sterile and she’s not gonna get sepsis.”

The doctor scurried to grab tourniquets, needles, gauze and IV tubes to transfer the blood. Donna continued to argue with Slade as he injected the needle into his own arm, and another into Felicity, and the blood started to pass through the IV.

“Anything, and I mean anything, happens to her as a result of this, I will kill both of you.” Donna yelled when the doctor stopped her from removing the IV, saying it was too late to stop the transfusion now.

“You’re very attractive when you’re angry.” Slade said. “Maybe you should leave the room, let the doctor work. I’ll get you when it’s over.” Donna went to argue, but Slade grabbed her by the arm and walked her away from the surgery area.

After about ten minutes, they removed the IVs. Felicity seemed to get some of her color back. There was blood coming from her eyes. She nearly woke up at one point, so they had to sedate her. The doctor went to work repairing the damage caused by the bullet. They left the warehouse behind and Slade drove Felicity and Donna back to Felicity’s house.

He went back to his base, where Isabel and Blood were both waiting, demanding to know where he’d been all night. He didn’t answer and barely paid attention to the reports they gave him. The incident with Cooper meant his plan had to change once again. Oliver now knew he was Felicity’s father, his ‘team’ would know before sunrise. As a result of Seldon’s actions, however, the situation was now even more in Slade’s favor.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity (and certain members of Team Arrow) deal with some changes in her behavior.

Felicity’s anger turned to rage as she stormed out of Verdant. She couldn’t believe her team was acting like this. Yes, Slade Wilson being her father was a shock, but it was a shock to her too. Why couldn’t they see that? On top of that, the hypocrisy coming from Oliver had pissed her off. He might’ve distanced himself from his mother recently, but it didn’t absolve him from the months of ‘she couldn’t be involved’ and ‘my mom wouldn’t do that’. Interesting how when it’s Oliver’s family, that’s the end of the conversation. Even though Felicity hadn’t seen her father in twenty years. 

“I’m gonna kill him.” she said to herself as she stalked to her car.

“Maybe don’t kill him quite yet. You could have some fun with him first.” The little voice in her head said. “Violent fun, but still fun.”

“I need a drink.” She got into her car and drove home.

When she got home, her mother and Slade were in her living room. “What do you want?”

“Felicity!”

“What? He vanishes for twenty years. Shows up at my work with some excuse. Doesn’t tell me who he is. Two days later, beats my ex to a pulp, and I’m supposed to what? Believe he suddenly wanted to get to know his daughter. Think this was all a coincidence. Yeah, I’m blonde but I’m not stupid. What do you want?”

“To get to know my daughter.” Slade said. He was watching her very closely, almost like he was looking for a specific reaction from her.

“You’re a few decades too late for that. Get out of my house.”

“It’s not that simple. My last mission went awry and it took me years to get home.”

“I know, but something tells me you got home long before you tried to find me. So don’t pretend like reconnecting with me is the only reason you’re here.” Felicity stood and walked towards her bedroom. “If you aren’t gone in the next five minutes, I’m calling the police.”

“I’m sorry.” Donna said to Slade. “I knew she was angry about you leaving. I didn’t- she normally isn’t like that.”

“It’s fine. The last few days have been hard for her.” Slade reassured her. “Besides, she can’t pretend I don’t exist forever.” He was actually pleased by this outcome. Based on how she was acting, and Donna’s words, the Mirakuru was already beginning to affect her emotionally. She’d seek him out and join his side soon enough. He said goodbye to Donna and left.

The next day, Oliver and Sara were both waiting on the top floor of Queen Consolidated for Felicity to arrive. She could avoid the foundry all she wanted, but she still needed to come to work. This gave Oliver at least a way and excuse to talk to her. Both were hoping she’d calmed down some after last night.

“I can’t believe this.” Sara said.

“What?”

“That ‘Lizzie’ is the one and only Felicity Smoak.” Sara answered.

* * *

 

**Lian Yu- 2008**

As Shado, Oliver, Sara and Slade navigated their way across the island to the submarine, the Australian’s condition worsened. More than once, Oliver was sure the only reason Slade was still alive was because he was too stubborn to die. At one point during their trek, he got too tired to keep moving. Everyone watched him warily, worried he’d die right then and there.

“Lisy, I’m sorry.” He rasped out.

“Who’s-?” Sara started to ask.

“His daughter He’s only mentioned her like three times.” Oliver answered.

“I’m so sorry- Kid, if I don’t make it, I need you to- to tell her-“

“You need to get up.” Shado told him. “You can tell her yourself after we heal you.”

Slade somehow found the strength to stand and keep moving, with Oliver’s aid. “What’s she like? Lizzie?”

“Beautiful, like her mother. So, so smart. She’s got a curiosity streak a mile wide. It’ll get her into trouble one day.” He said. “At least, she did the last time I saw her.”

“When was that?”

“She was just starting preschool. Then ASIS needed me and I wound up here. On this godforsaken island.”

“We’re gonna get out of here and you’re gonna see her again.” Oliver told him.

* * *

 

**Starling City-Present**

“Me neither.” Oliver said. “But to be fair, the way he talked about her, I thought by now she’d be like 11. By the time I washed up there, Felicity was already in college.”

“Do you think she’s on his side?”

“I hope not. I don’t know what could’ve happened between the Undertaking and me coming back, so its possible. Then again, she was just as shocked as I was when her mom yelled at me. Donna Smoak is scary by the way. I’m worried. If she isn’t siding with him now, he might try to manipulate her into joining him soon.” 

Sara was about to comment on that when the elevator doors opened. A woman stepped out. every man on the floor’s jaw dropped. Felicity walked slowly towards her desk, ignoring the looks she was getting. She was wearing a short, and very form-fitting, dark purple dress with high heels. It was work appropriate, but barely and brought attention to certain parts of her body. Her hair was down and she had very dramatic make-up on.

As she entered her work area, she saw Sara and Oliver standing there. He seemed to be as frozen as the other men. “Ugh. Seriously? What?” she didn’t want to deal with them right now.

“Who are you and what’ve you done with Felicity Smoak?” Sara asked.

“Nothing. I decided to shake up my look at little bit.” She responded, barely containing an eyeroll.

“Why couldn’t her psycho ex have killed her?” the voice in Felicity’s head said. “Or at least done something to make her go away?”

“Why are you here? Last time I checked, you don’t work here and he barely does.” Felicity asked.

“We wanted to talk, clear the air.”

“So, you chose to do it at my place of employment, where I can’t just walk away or say what I’m really thinking.” She said. “Classy.”

“Look, about last night-“ Oliver began.

“I don’t wanna hear it. I’m at work, at the job I’m still pissed you forced me to take. The job where everyone thinks I got by sleeping with you. Thank you for setting my career back a decade, by the way.” Felicity said. “You wanna talk, do it when I can talk freely. Now, don’t you have CEO work to pretend to know how to do?” she turned to Sara. “Bye.”

Sara and Oliver shared a look, and the blonde left. Felicity was typing away on her computer, trying not to put her fist through the screen, when she heard the tapping sounds of heels approaching. She looked up to see Isabel.

“Ms. Smoak. That’s a….nice dress.”

“Can’t someone drop a house on her already?” the voice in Felicity’s head said again. “Or just set her on fire. Throw her in front of a train. Something equally deadly.”

“Thanks, I don’t think you could pull it off though.” She shot back. Isabel got ready to make another scathing remark. “Are you here for a reason or-?”

“I don’t like your attitude. You know I could have you fired.”

“Actually, you can’t but nice try.” Isabel didn’t have the grounds to fire her, Oliver wouldn’t fire her and her HR file was squeaky clean. 

“Isabel, why are you here?” Oliver asked.

“Ms. Rochev came to get the agenda for the next board meeting, which I sent to her assistant yesterday. She was just leaving.” Felicity said. “You should have a talk with him. His ineptitude keeps wasting your valuable time.”

Isabel was too startled by Felicity suddenly standing up for herself and couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she left.

“You’re acting strange.” Oliver told her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’ve never felt better.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity continues to act strange and realizes something is happening to her.

Since Felicity seemed to be in a bad mood, Oliver tried to avoid pestering her too much that day. She looked like she was going to use her Loud Voice every time he caught her eye and didn’t want her to unleash it at work. It was hard to get through the day. As Felicity moved about the office, completing her tasks, Oliver couldn’t help but watch her. That dress made her very noticeable. Every other man who stepped onto the floor had the same reaction. She shot every single one of them, Oliver included, an annoyed ‘what do you want’ look.

Finally, the work day ended and it was time to go home. Oliver walked to her desk, wanting to volunteer to drive to the Arrow Cave that night. She cut him off and said she needed to stop at home first. She promised her mom they’d have an early dinner.

Felicity walked into her living room, to find both her parents there again. “Hey honey.” Her mom greeted her.

“Where are the rest of your clothes?” Slade asked, taking in her appearance.

“What do you mean ‘the rest of my clothes’?”

“There’s no way that scrap of fabric can be considered a dress.” He argued.

“Whats wrong with what she’s wearing?” Donna asked. “I dress like that.” Slade shot Donna a look. “Don’t give me that look. It didn’t work 20 years ago, it doesn’t work now.”

“What’s wrong, daddy?” Felicity asked in a mocking tone. “Realize your little girl grew up while you were gone? Why are you here anyway?”

“I told you. I want to know my daughter again.” he answered. “And your mother suggested-“

A buzzer in the kitchen went off. “Oh, sounds like the chicken’s ready. Dinner time.” Donna said.

“Mom? What’s going on?”

“I thought- you two need to talk. Not argue, or avoid the elephant in the room, but talk. Dinner as a family seemed like a good idea.” Her mom said.

“Oh hell no.” the voice in Felicity’s head said. “I’m not gonna sit here and play happy family with him.”

“I’ll eat.” Felicity said. “I’m not promising this won’t turn into an argument.” Her mom nodded and headed to get dinner, so she turned to Slade. “Don’t you have supervillain things you could be doing?”

“That’s what I have minions for.” He deadpanned.

Dinner was mostly awkward, with her mom trying and failing to make small talk. Then, Slade brought up Felicity’s job.

“You graduated from MIT, early, with honors. How did you become a secretary?”

“Oliver’s a friend. I’m doing him a favor.”

“Not that the idiot’s ever thanked me.” the little voice said again.

“He must be a good friend, for you to throw away your career like that.” Slade said neutrally as he took a bite of mashed potatoes.

Felicity’s grip on her fork tightened. “Don’t talk about things you don’t understand. And don’t pretend like you know me because mom let you in on a few details and you Googled me.”

“Let’s get away from this topic for now.” Donna suggested.

Felicity took a few deep breaths to calm down and released her grip. The fork she was holding was now noticeably bent. She looked at the clock and stood up. “I need to go to my other job.”

“We’re in the middle of din-“ her mom argued.

“No, by all means. Your work is important and we can catch up later. Besides, it gives your mother and I time to talk about our relationship.” He said.

Felicity threw up in her mouth at the implication and left. She drove to the foundry, still in a bad mood about her last night there.

“Hopefully it’ll be better.”

“It won’t. none of them have pulled their heads out of their asses.”  The little voice said. It had gotten louder since last night. “Blow them off. They deserve it.”

“No, because then I’d have to spend time with daddy-dearest, which is worse.” she argued back. “And now I’m talking to myself.”

She got to the foundry and everyone else was already there. No one spoke to her or acknowledged her, so she got to work, internally hurling insults at them. eventually, the silence became too much and Roy spoke.

“You look….different.”

“Wow. Nice to see your eyes still work.” She shot back.

“Ok, what is going on with you?”

“I don’t know, Oliver. My ex showed up. I got shot. I found my dad, turns out he’s a bad guy. All of you are being assholes to me. Why would any of that put me in a bad mood?” she asked rhetorically. “Are we gonna work or did I drive here for no reason?”

Oliver studied her for a moment before turning to face the rest of the team. “There’s been no new developments in where Slade’s base of operations is or what his end goal is. I don’t suppose he said anything to you?”

“Nope. He hasn’t said or mentioned anything to me. He wouldn’t anyway, because I’d just turn around and tell you, so- besides, he’s a little busy right now.”

“Busy with what?” Sara asked.

“Trying to make me like him, which isn’t gonna happen. The only person I’m more pissed at than you three is him.” She said.

Knowing they should drop the subject, Oliver shifted gears. He briefed everyone on what had happened since two nights ago. “I told Laurel about the info you found about how Brother Blood is finding followers. She’s using her connections to look into parole officers and other DOC employees they may have interacted with.”

Sara, Digg, Roy and Oliver all left Felicity behind in the foundry to patrol.

“Ugh, Laurel. Perfect Laurel. It always comes back to Laurel.” Felicity’s inner voice said as they left. “Too bad she didn’t die in the quake. Least then, he’d be too heartbroken to even say her name. I would’ve settled for Nyssa actually killing her to lure Sara back here. Two birds, one stone.” The blonde might’ve been jealous of Laurel, but even she thought that last part was a bit too mean. “I am mean.”

“No, I’m not.” the blonde argued.

“But I am.” A voice said from behind her. Startled, she turned and saw a ghost. “Miss me?”

The person was the same height as Felicity, and her facial features were exactly the same, but the two women couldn’t have been more different. Black hair, heavy make-up and eyeliner. Leather jacket, black clothes and combat boots. She was a carbon copy of how Felicity dressed during her goth phase.

“This isn’t happening.” She told herself. Felicity held it together for an hour or so, before telling her team she had to go and fleeing the foundry. This was all too weird for her and she needed space to think.

“Now that we’ve ditched the morality police, let’s have some fun. Let’s be bad. Wanna hack the government for real this time?”

She tried to find a reason, any reason, why this was happening. Then, it clicked. Her goth doppelganger, the voice in her head, her terrible mood, it had all started after Slade saved her and her mom from Cooper. Whatever happened between his arrival and her waking up at home caused this. She got into her car and called her mom, asking her to put Slade on the phone. She told him to meet her at an all-night diner on the other side of town.

Felicity got there first, found a booth and waited. As soon as her father arrived and sat down, she confronted him. “What the hell did you do to me?”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity gets some answers, and talks with her mom

“What the hell did you do to me?” Felicity asked Slade angrily.

“I didn’t do anything, aside from save your life. Your ex-boyfriend would’ve killed you had I not intervened. We should discuss your taste in men, by the way.” He answered.

“Yeah, when hell freezes over, dad.” She scoffed. “I meant after that. I passed out in the warehouse. I woke up at home. What happened in between?”

“You started to bleed out. I couldn’t take you to the hospital, for obvious reasons. So, I called an associate to patch you up. You need a transfusion, and luckily we are the same blood type.” He said nonchalantly.

“You gave me a blood transfusion? You put your Mirakuru infected blood into my system?” Felicity gripped the tabletop.

“Mirakuru enhanced blood, but yes. You’re still alive, so it worked.” He said. “Might wanna let go, you’re denting the table.” She moved her hands and the tabletop now had indents where her fingers were.

“It worked, and I have Mirakuru now. Great.” She said. “Because I didn’t have enough problems.”

“The serum isn’t a curse or a problem, it’s a gift.”

“Yeah, well, I’m seeing a past version of me. She keeps making bitchy comments, so I don’t see it that way.” She argued. Her goth self was sitting next to Slade, wondering what it looked like underneath his eyepatch. She couldn’t decide if he had an eye and it was useless or if it was just an empty socket.

“Ask him. That’s some daddy-daughter time he might actually like.” Goth Felicity said. “Instead of pretending like he has to around Donna. I mean, really? We both know he doesn’t care about the stuff in your life he missed. He’s here for himself, you just happened to be here too.”

“God, will you shut up?” she directed at the figment of her imagination. “I get it.”

“You’re seeing things that aren’t there?” Slade asked. They had been working for months to find men capable of surviving the serum. A dozen or so were successes, Roy included, but none of them had suffered any hallucinations. Then again, Felicity was the only person to get it directly from Slade. It made him wonder what else might be different about her.

“Tell him. Tell him you keep hallucinating. Tell him I keep making you wanna do bad things. He’ll like that. Especially since you wanna hurt the same people he wants to hurt.”

Felicity didn’t say anything, but her eyes also didn’t move from the spot next to Slade.

“We should have this conversation elsewhere.” He said, standing up. He left several bills on the table before leading Felicity from the diner. They wound up at Slade’s apartment, rented under a fake name, that he claimed no one else knew about. She sat on his couch with a bored expression. “How are you feeling?’

“I’m pissed. I’m tired. I wanna kill you. Pick one.”

“Good, then it’s working. The transfusion was successful.”

“You wanted this to happen?” she yelled.

“Of course, I did. I couldn’t have my daughter siding with the man I’m trying to destroy. I was going to inject you with Mirakuru eventually. Your ex showing up just made things easier for me. Sped things along.” He said in a bored tone.

“This serum drove you insane, to hear Oliver tell it. And you’ve now subjected me to it.”

“No miracle is perfect. That’s what Mirakuru means, miracle. And a miracle it is. After you dear friend Oliver blew me up and shot an arrow into my eye, it was the only reason I survived. You’ll thank me for doing it soon enough.”

Felicity had heard enough. She didn’t have words to express how mad she was. She couldn’t even make sense of the words coming out of Slade’s mouth anymore. Instead of leaving, or continuing to yell, she launched herself at him. He stopped her from getting anything other than a weak punch to the stomach in. Then, he had the nerve to chuckle.

“You have a lot to learn, sweetheart.”

“This is all your fault. My friends don’t trust me because of you. I wanna hurt people. And you think I’m gonna thank you? No, I’m gonna kill you.” she growled out.

“Not anytime soon.” He shrugged. “I’m training you. You’ll actually learn how to fight. And if you still decide you want to kill me, you can try afterwards.”

She didn’t answer at first and kept trying to break free from his grip. “Let go of me.”

“Not until you listen. You need training. I’m going to train you. This isn’t a debate.” He said letting go of her arm. He walked over to a chest and tossed a wooden stick to Felicity. “Starting now.”

Felicity returned home in the very early morning. She was tired, bruised and if she hadn’t had enhanced healing, she would’ve been bloody. Her mother was waiting up for her, wanting to talk.

“I think you and I need to have a talk.” Donna was in the living room, holding a steaming mug in her hands.

“Mom, I’m not- can we talk later?”

“No, because I know you’re gonna keep pushing it off.” Donna said. She pushed the mug in her hands closer to Felicity. “I made you some hot milk. It always made you feel better.”

“Yeah, when I was 10.”

“Ok, I guess I’ll drink it then.” Donna said. Felicity grabbed the mug and wouldn’t give it back. “I know you’re mad at me. This stuff with Slade-”

“No, I’m mad at him.” Felicity said. “You told him to pick: us or his job and he picked his job. I’m pissed he came back two decades later thinking he could just waltz back in like no time had passed.”

“Really? So you aren’t pissed he basically experimented on you, not knowing if you would survive?” Her goth self said from the corner. “Pathetic.”

“I’m the one who made him leave though.” Her mom admitted. “I was just- when that guy drove us off the road, I was terrified. We could have died, you could have died. I- the thought of something like that happening again made me sick. I know I wasn’t always the mother you wanted, but I was always there. I tried, as hard as I could, to make sure you knew you were loved.”

“You didn’t do a bad job.” She said off-handedly. “I might’ve only had one parent at my high school graduation, but you cheered louder than anyone else’s parents.”

“You were mad at the time. Said it was embarrassing.”

“I was 16. Everything you did back then embarrassed me.” She laughed. “Wasn’t that part of your job as a mom anyway?”

“It’s not required, but it is encouraged.” Her mom joked. “Though, maybe I overdid it a little bit sometimes.”

“My 7th grade science fair comes to mind.”

“My brilliant baby girl made a rocket that flew 200 feet and she lost to Charlie Holloman and his volcano. Of course, I was gonna confront the judges about it.” she defended.

“Yeah, I remember that day. You took the whole day off work and we went out for ice cream afterwards.” It was one of her favorite childhood memories. She and Donna didn’t get a lot of time together, just the two of them, for most of Felicity’s childhood. The days that they did always stood out.

“Ugh. All this mother-daughter crap is disgusting.” Goth Felicity interjected.

“I should- its really late. I know I don’t have work tomorrow, but I’m exhausted.” Felicity said.

“Ok. Sleep well.”

Felicity nodded and stood up. Before she left the room, however, she went over to her mother and hugged her. “Thank you, for everything.”

Felicity woke up the next morning, very confused. She looked at here phone and saw the date. “Saturday? What happened after I left Verdant on Thursday?”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity tried to piece some things together, Isabel wants answers and Moira makes a mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note: This story's version of 'Heir to the Demon' is a little different. The storyline of Nyssa trying to take Sara back to the League has already happened. The other storyline, about Thea's biological father, didn't happen at the same time.

Felicity sat back in bed for a moment and tried to remember what had happened since Thursday. She remembered going to the Arrowcave the day after she got shot because Oliver got grumpy and demanded she show up. She didn’t remember what happened after she got there or when she left. She remembered waking up the next day, but not going to work or anything else until she was talking to her mom last night. She wondered if her team might be able to shed some light on the situation.

Felicity puttered around the house all day, spending time with her mother and avoiding the elephant in the room. Her father was a bad guy, which was something she couldn’t control. She could, however, do everything in her power to stop him, which is what she was going to do. finally, it became time to head to the foundry and hopefully get some answers. 

She walked down the stairs to the lair and saw Oliver and Digg sparring. She waved hello to them and went to boot up her system. She was in the middle of getting searches started when she felt one of them move closer to her.

“How are you doing?” Digg asked her.

“Ok, I guess. It’s been a weird few days for me.”

“I imagine. Look, I- I wanted to apologize,” he told her. She looked at him confused and he continued, “for accusing you of working for Slade and being a spy. You were right, after everything, I should’ve had more faith in you than that. Hell, I didn’t even ask if you were okay before we launched into accusations.”

She had no idea what he was talking about. For some reason, she didn’t tell him that though. Instead, she responded as if she remembered. “You’re right, you shouldn’t have. Oliver shouldn’t have either. Thought we were better friends than that.” she turned back to her work and John walked away.

Soon after, Roy and Sara came into the foundry. Sara watched her for a moment before making a comment about how Felicity seemed to be in a better mood, which didn’t make any sense. Oliver and Roy still kept their distance and patrol was very formal that night.

* * *

 

**Across town**

Slade sat in his office, watching the actions of ‘Team Arrow’ on his monitor. They were still trying to pinpoint the various places Blood was amassing his followers from. He didn’t give him any warning or keep Oliver from finding anything. There were others ways Slade could get his army and it amused him to watch them run around, always five steps behind.

The thing that did cause him some discomfort was Felicity. Based on her reactions and general demeanor, the emotional effects of the Mirakuru had worn off. He wasn’t expecting that and it conflicted with his plans for her. He needed to get to the bottom of it. He was pulled from his thoughts when both Isabel and Blood came into the room.

“You’re up to something. What is it?” she demanded to know.

“Tell them.” Shado said from the corner.

“Don’t tell them.” Donna Smoak said from next to her. This was new, seeing both of them. The two women couldn’t have looked more different. Every time he ‘saw’ Shado she was always wearing the same tank top and cargo pants she did on the island. Donna, however, was wearing a very tight and revealing red dress. He wondered how things would change, with him hallucinating another woman from his past. “They don’t need to know. Besides, secrets are sexy.”

“I’m not sure what you are referring to.” Slade told his two ‘partners’.

“You’ve been very secretive lately. Not telling us where you’re going or what you’re up to. it’s too late in the game for you to be pulling that kind of thing.” Sebastian said.

“Who is he, your mother?” Donna asked. “You know he’s trying to undermine you, right? Or just flat out replace you. He wants to be in charge, you are in charge. And he wonders why you don’t tell him things.”

“I haven’t told you because that information isn’t relevant to our plans. Why should I tell you something that doesn’t concern you?”

“But-“

“Need I remind you that I do not answer to you. And that you can very easily be replaced.” Slade said menacingly. Blood bit his cheek, nodded once and left the room. Isabel stayed.

“I can’t wait until we no longer need him.” she scoffed. “So, what’s all the secrecy about?”

“Don’t tell her either. She hates Felicity. How well do you think ‘I gave Felicity Mirakuru when I wouldn’t give it to you’ is gonna go over?” The Donna halluncination said.

“Nothing that concerns you, either.” He said. “If you needed to know, you would.”

“Fine.” She said. “Let’s talk about Felicity Smoak.”

“As I told you, more than once I believe, she isn’t your concern. I have my own plans for her. I also warned you not to interfere with those plans. Do I need to explain that concept again?”

“No.” Briefly, fear flashed through Isabel’s eyes. She still vividly remembered Slade choking her as a warning. “I wanted to know what the plan was.”

“Again, not your concern. She will be dealt with, Oliver Queen will suffer and that will lead to his downfall.” Slade said. Eventually, Isabel realized that was the only answer she’d be getting and left his office as well. He turned back to the monitor, where Felicity was now the only person in the foundry. Perhaps a nudge could bring the newer Felicity back. He picked up his phone and dialed. “Hello.”

“How did you get this number?” She hissed into the phone.

“I’m very resourceful. I just wanted to talk.”

“Well, I don’t. So bye-bye.” She hung up on him.

He redialed the phone. “You can’t ignore me forever.”

“Watch me.”

* * *

 

**Queen Mansion-Next Day**

Felicity had discovered Moira’s big secret. The reason Malcolm went to the trouble of getting her acquitted, the reason she was complicit in the Undertaking in the first place. Thea Queen wasn’t Robert’s daughter. The blonde immediately went to the mansion to confront Moira.

“What are you going to do with this information?” Moira said walking past her.

“I don’t know. Confronting you in your living room was as far as my plan went.”

The blonde admitted. “I thought you deserved…. the chance to tell Oliver yourself. He should hear it from you.”

Moira turned around at that statement. “I’m not going to tell my son anything. And neither are you.”

“Really?” the voice in Felicity’s head said. “Why would I do that?”

“If you won’t keep my secret for Oliver’s sake, you should keep it for your own.”

“She wants to be mayor, just got acquitted for murder and thinks threatening people is a good idea?” Goth Felicity said. “Really, you should’ve told him already. Unless of course you wanna use this as leverage. It’s dark, I like it.”

“I see the way you look at him. If you tell him this, you will rip his world apart, and a part of him will always blame you. He’ll hate me for sure, but he will hate you too. We all have to keep secrets Miss Smoak.”

Felicity looked at Moira and burst out laughing. “You know, that was almost convincing. But sorry, I’m not gonna protect or take advice from the woman who got her husband and 503 other people killed.”

“I was acquitted.”

“Yeah, because the psycho you fucked 18 years ago tampered with the jury. I wonder how long it would take for me to find proof of that. I’m sure the DA, and the city would be very interested to know. What do you think their response will be to that?” She asked. “Let me make something clear: this was a courtesy. You tell him in the next 24 hours or I will. Maybe I tell him and only him privately, maybe I leak all the proof I found to every news outlet I can. Your choice. Have a nice day.” She turned to go. “Oh, and don’t tell Oliver we had this conversation. We all need to keep secrets, right?”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity trains, the team debates, and Felicity isn't as laid-back about some things as she used to be.

Felicity bit back a scoff as she walked into the building she was supposed to meet Slade in. He was already there, standing there like he'd been terribly inconvenienced by having to meet with her. Even though this was his idea.

"You're late"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to ditch the Arrow-squad? They think you're trying to turn me to the dark side enough as is."

"If they only knew"

"Whatever. Let's get this over with" she said shedding her jacket and squaring up.

They sparred for hours. Thanks to Digg giving Felicity some self-defense tops last year, she wasn't completely hopeless. It was still painful though.

Meanwhile, the team was wondering where she was and what to do. "I don't know if we can do anything yet." Digg said. "She hasn't done anything that warrants an intervention. Weird behavior doesn't mean she's an enemy."

"So, we do nothing."

"For now, yes." He said. “You don’t want her to work with Slade. If we keep treating her like this, she might just join him. If we don’t have her back, why should she have ours?”

The next night, to avoid suspicion, Felicity was back in the foundry with the team. Everyone was tiptoeing around her changes on behavior, remembering what Digg had said. Then, Roy started to gripe about how mirakuru was ruining his life.

"Please," Goth Felicity scoffed, "what's there to ruin? His thriving career as a bartender? Yeah, that’s a huge loss"

"Hey, there's a way to fix it. We just haven't found it yet."

"Why would you want to?" Goth Felicity said. "Can we ditch the lame-os already?"

Felicity was about to send the team off on a wild goose chase when Thea called Oliver. Laurel was at verdant and wasted. He went upstairs to check on her. Felicity followed to satisfy her own curiosity.

"She isn't even a fun train wreck though. Just....sad."

Laurel made several attempts to hit on Oliver and rude remarks about Felicity. After a few minutes, Oliver left to call her a cab and Thea went back to work. This left Laurel alone with Felicity.

"So, did you sleep with him to get the job or-?"

"That depends. Did you decide tommy was your one true love before or after you got him killed?"

'That-I- you don't know what you're talking about."

"I know he died because you went back into that building like an idiot. Do all lawyers think paperwork is more important than human life, or is that just you?"

"Why are you being such a bitch to me?"

"Well, you called me a whore when I don't even know you. But I can live with that. No, this is because of the poor me act. You know you aren't the only person who's lost someone, right? You aren't special just because Tommy died."

"Look, you-"

"No, my turn," Felicity said grabbing Laurel's arm, "you're gonna get into your cab, you're gonna go home, and leave me and Oliver alone. I might not be so nice next time."

With Laurel dealt with, she went back to the foundry and gave the team a useless lead to follow so she'd get some peace.

“Where were you last night?” Isabel asked as soon as Slade entered their base.

“Following up on a lead.”

“What lead?”

 “Need I remind you, I do not answer to you.” he said as he walked past her. Every time Isabel demanded to know what he was up to, he started to regret choosing her, and not one of the Queen family’s other enemies, as a partner more and more. Business acumen aside, Isabel was just a jilted lover, and the act was getting old.

After Felicity’s fake lead went nowhere, the team came back to the lair. They hadn't caught Slade bit managed to stop dome other, more minor crimes. Everyone except Oliver and Felicity left. He needed to let off some steam and she said she was updating the system.

"I know a way he can let off some steam" Goth Felicity said suggestively. She tilted her head and studied Oliver as he moved up and down the salmon ladder. "But this works too. You should memorize this, for later. When you're alone."

The insinuation threw Felicity for a loop and she knocked her tablet off the table.

"You ok?" Oliver called out.

"Yeah, just wanna get out of here before sunrise. Not that it’s your business." She stood up and walked out.

Oliver stood in the foundry wondering what had just happened. Her behavior was getting more and more concerning. Or maybe she was just mad at him. Maybe Donna would know.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver seeks out answers, Mirakuru Felicity causes problems and the team meets a new player

Felicity rushed into the warehouse where she and Slade trained. She really wanted to hit something. Her father seemed like the perfect candidate.

“You’re angrier than normal.” He said.

“Yeah, I am. We sparring or what?” she shot back.

“Why are you angry?”

“One, don’t pretend to care. Two, not your business. Three, I took care of it.” she said as she moved into a fighting stance. “Let’s do this.”

Sometime later, they were finished sparring. “You should thank whoever made you angry. Tonight was the best you’ve fought all week.”

“Pretty sure if I see her again I might strangle her, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Ah, so which Lance sister was it?”

“Doesn’t really matter, does it?”

They left separately and headed back towards Felicity’s house.

 

Oliver felt like a snitch as he drove towards Felicity’s house. Never in a million years did he expect to seek Donna Smoak out just to inform her of how strange her daughter was acting. Still, he couldn’t really think of another option. Her behavior was out of character at best and incredibly concerning at worst. Adding Slade and his vendetta into the mix only made his concerns grow. Oliver braced himself knocked on the door.

“You know you don’t- oh, Mr. Queen,” Donna said as she opened the door, “Felicity’s not here I’m afraid.”

“I actually came to talk to you.” he admitted. “It’s about Felicity. I’m worried.”

“Wow, you’re a very….invested boss if you drove all the way here to say you’re worried about your assistant.” Donna remarked.

“Felicity isn’t just my employee, she’s also my friend. I’m concerned about my friend. She isn’t acting- well lately, she hasn’t been herself.”

“She’s had a rough few weeks. A lot’s happened, she’s still struggling with a few things. But my baby girl is stronger than she looks. She’ll be fine.”

“I know that, its just- I wanna help her but I don’t know how.” Oliver admitted. He was being truthful but he also wanted to know any insight Donna could give him about why Felicity was acting the way she was. “If I knew what she was dealing with, maybe I’d know how to help her.”

Donna was about to tell Oliver a little bit about what was going on when the front door opened. the archer tensed as Felicity entered the building.

“Seriously? You ran and told my mom?”

“I didn’t-“

“He didn’t tell me anything, except that he’s worried about you.” Donna said. “So am I.”

“Well, I’m not his to worry about in the first place and I’m fine. Never been better.”

Oliver was going to dispute that when Slade walked in behind her. Both men froze for a second before regaining their composure. “I don’t think we’ve met. Oliver Queen.”

“Slade Wilson.” He said, sticking his hand out to shake Oliver’s. “Felicity’s father.”

“Her father? She didn’t tell me you’d finally come back. Said she never thought she’d see you again.”

“I tried to come back, for years. But an accident at work left me stranded and kept me away for a long time. You were marooned on an island, so I think you’d understand.”

“Yes, I do. Not everyone’s lucky enough to survive a situation like that, or the toll of being away from their family for so long.”

“Luck has nothing to do with it. I was strong enough to survive. Others, not so much. I know two others who lucked out and met someone smart enough to keep them alive.” Slade of course meant Oliver and Sara. Oliver was lucky Slade decided to teach him. Sara was lucky Oliver had protected her and Slade hadn’t killed her at first sight. Shado was strong, she could have survived, she would have survived.

“I doubt the person they met kept them alive. The person helped them and they helped that person.”

“Is that how you remember it?” Slade shouted, forgetting that he was supposed to pretend not to know Oliver.

“Ok, what’s going on?” Donna asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? The island dear old Dad was stuck on was the same island Oliver was on. They’ve met before.” Felicity said. “Don’t know why they tried to hide it in the first place. They both suck at keeping secrets.”

“You two were castaways together? Why didn’t you come back when he did?” Donna asked Slade. She then turned to Oliver. “And when you came back, why didn’t you tell anyone he was alive?”

“I thought he wasn’t. We tried to escape the island. The boat was destroyed and thought Slade had drowned.” Oliver said, leaving most of the details out.

“I didn’t.”

“Well, now that everyone knows everybody, you two can go.” Felicity remarked. “I don’t have the patience for either of you right now.” She walked past them and went into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Oliver left and Donna started questioning Slade about what else he left out when he told her what happened.

The next evening, Felicity was down in the foundry with Roy. Oliver, Digg and Sara hadn’t shown up just yet. She stared at Roy as he worked on a training dummy until he noticed her.

“What?”

“If I ask you a question, will you promise not to tell Oliver?”

“Yeah, I guess. What is it?”

“So, there isn’t a tiny little piece of you that’s mad at Oliver?” she asked.

“Ooh, we’re instigating fights today. Fun.” Goth Felicity said from her spot in the corner.

“Why would I-?”

“Well, if you weren’t trying to find the Hood, or follow in his footsteps, Gold wouldn’t have caught you and you wouldn’t have been injected with Mirakuru.” She reasoned. “Hell, if he was even honest about what happened with Slade, or actually killed him, we wouldn’t be here. Wouldn’t be abnormal if a part of you blamed Oliver for what’s happened.”

“I don’t blame him, I- it was Slade and Gold and Brother Blood. Oliver was trying to save me.”

“If you say so.” She answered. “But if he never came back, would there be anything to save you from?”

Roy didn’t respond and went back to hitting things. By the time Oliver and the others arrived, Roy was in a bad mood which everyone noticed. He’d stewed in Felicity’s suggestion for a little too long.

Oliver launched into a short speech about how they needed to find out what Slade and Brother Blood were up to, and how nothing would stand in their way. Halfway through, Felicity scoffed. “Yeah, okay. Until something more important to you pops up.”

“What do you-?”

“No, its just- finding Deadshot was important, until Laurel needed you. Tracking Brother Blood was a top priority until Sara needed you to save her from her own bad decisions.”

“I didn’t make Nyssa-“

“You knew what would happen if you tried to abandon the League though. You knew, you did it anyway. And we had to pause our search for Blood and my father, because your ex showed up. You’ve got terrible taste by the way.” Felicity said. “So, nothing will stop us, until a Lance needs Oliver’s help. Then, screw everyone else.”

“Felicity, that’s not-“

“I mean, dropping everything to help Thea makes sense. Doing it for Sara, who is a trained assassin and doesn’t seem to care about your ‘no killing rule’ or Laurel, who hates you and only gives you intel when she wants something, that doesn’t make sense to me.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Sara asked,

“I hate you. I wish you’d actually died on that boat. I wish your ex actually killed you, and Laurel. it would’ve spared me a headache.” Goth Felicity said.

“I’m tired of your bullshit. And his. And your sister’s. Her boyfriend, no her ex-boyfriend, died. People die, pull it the fuck together. I didn’t tell you about my father. You didn’t tell us about him either. You showed up right when he did, but I’m the spy.” Felicity stood up to leave. “I’m leaving now. Don’t call me unless you want to find Slade. I’m done dealing with your personal problems.” Everyone was too shocked to say anything or try to stop her.

 

After Felicity left, an alert on one of her computers went off. Facial recognition had found Slade near an empty office building down the street from them. No one called Felicity, not wanting a repeat of what happened earlier. They arrived to find Slade standing there like he’d been expecting them.

“Took you long enough.” He said.

“Slade, this ends now.” Oliver growled.

“Oh, I agree. So does my apprentice, I believe.” He said as a figure several inches shorter than him stepped out of the shadows. The person didn’t speak but nodded in agreement with Slade.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team faces off against Slade, becomes aware of a new threat, and Felicity's behavior continues to be a little off

“Slade, this ends now.” Oliver growled.

His former friend stood in the middle of the building with a bored expression on his face. The team studied him from their vantage point. Unlike on the island, where Slade’s armor consisted of Kevlar and his operational balaclava, there was no way anyone wouldn’t think he was a threat. The Kevlar was covered by protective plates. It looked like every inch of the armor was covered in compartments to hold weaponry.

“Oh, I agree. So does my apprentice, I believe.” He said as a figure several inches shorter than him stepped out of the shadows. The person didn’t speak but nodded in agreement with Slade. “Meet Ravager. She doesn’t like you very much either.”

The team studied the new arrival. She wasn’t very tall or very muscular, but she was intimidating nonetheless. Her hair, which was rather long and hanging loose, covered one half of her face. Her mouth was covered by a black mask and she wore goggles over her eyes. This woman could be anybody, which is part of why she made the team concerned. She wore armor that was a mix of Slade’s old suit and his new one. A Kevlar body suit that was mostly black with the occasional orange accent. Gloves, combat boots, the works. She had additional protection in certain places, like her chest, elbows and knees. Unlike Slade’s, the protective plating was only covered specific areas, not the entire suit.

If the armor wasn’t intimidating enough, she was practically armed to the teeth. A knife tucked into to sheaths on each boot. Two swords attached to her back. Two hip holsters and a shoulder holster for guns. Not to mention the belt around her waist that Oliver assumed contained more ammo and other weapons like grenades.

“Can we get this over with?” Ravager asked. Her voice was distorted as it filtered through the mask. “There’s so many other things I’d rather be doing.”

No longer startled by the presence of Slade’s apprentice, the team moved to attack. Oliver and Sara went for Slade, while Roy and John went for the woman. Roy was able to hold his own against her physically, they had comparable strength levels, but he wasn’t quite as trained as she was. Slade hadn’t gone the ‘slap the water in the bowl’ route during their time together. They were both easy enough to beat without her needing to draw any of her weapons. She had them both on the ground soon enough.

Ravager glanced over to see what was happening with Oliver, Sara and her father. Slade’s new armor was most difficult to maneuver in, so Sara and Oliver’s agility kept the fight interesting. She thought she sensed movement behind her, and turned back to find Roy getting up once again. John was still out cold.

“You should’ve stayed down.” She remarked as she drew one of her swords. “I might’ve let you live.” She stalked towards him. As she pulled her arm back to swing the sword, she was attacked from behind. She looked behind her to see an arrow embedded in her left shoulder. A moment later, she felt an electric shock go through her body. She pulled it out and threw it away. She continued towards Roy and kneed him in the face, knocking him out. “Oh, you wanna go that route. Fine.” She stormed over to Oliver, forgetting about Roy, ready to shed blood.

With Oliver facing off against Ravager, Slade now only had one person to fight. Sara was a skilled fighter, but couldn’t last long against Slade’s strength on her own. Since he wasn’t done with his vengeance against Oliver, and by extent Sara, he didn’t kill her, simply knocked her out. Then, he saw that his apprentice was fighting Oliver and more than ready to kill him.

“Stop.” He said, loudly enough for both of them to hear over their fighting. The woman stopped, which confused Oliver. “This is not the final fight. I am not done making you suffer.” He gestured around the building. “I think we’ve proven our point, my dear. We’ll see you very soon, Arrow.”

Oliver looked around at his fallen team as his two adversaries left. Roy and Digg were beginning to stir soon after the pair left. He didn’t answer any of their questions about what happened, just said they needed to return to the foundry.

 

“You were going to kill Oliver.” Slade accused as he and Felicity drove away from the building.

“He shot me. that pissed me off. And don’t get upset, you want him dead anyway.”

“After. After I make him suffer, after I destroy everything he cares for. Then, he will die. And I will be the one to kill him.”

“Um, you can’t let him do that.” Goth Felicity said from the backseat. “Yeah, he’s got an annoying hero complex and it’s boring, but on the other hand, those abs. If he’s dead, you can’t have super fun sexy-times with him.”

“Whatever.” Felicity scoffed.

 

“So, they just left?” Sara asked after Oliver explained what had happened after everyone else was knocked out.

“Yeah. He said he wasn’t done making me suffer. He also said he’d proven his point.” He answered. “Don’t know what that point is, but-“

“She has Mirakuru.” Roy said, interrupting Oliver. “The woman, his apprentice.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, she- we’re evenly matched when it comes to strength. She’s better trained but- it’s the only explanation.”

“I thought all the ‘test subjects’ and missing ‘failed attempts’ were male. We’ve been scouring over missing person’s reports and none of the missing women fit the pattern.”

“Clearly, we were wrong.”

“Or no one reported her missing.” Digg said. “If she survived the serum and hasn’t disappeared off the face of the earth, why would anyone suspect anything?”

 

The next evening, Felicity was back in the foundry. She was hard at work, as usual, but they noticed she was moving differently. More cautiously and seemed stiff.

“Everything ok?” Oliver asked.

“Yeah. I just- I did something weird to my shoulder last night. It’s a little sore and hurts when I move.”

“Do you want me to take a look or-?”

“No! No, sorry, I- it’ll be fine. I just shouldn’t over do it for the next few days.” She said hurriedly. She started looking around before sighing. “Great. I left my phone in the car.”

She stood and walked towards the stairs. As she passed by Oliver, the strap of her top slid down, which she adjusted, but he briefly saw a small burn mark on her left shoulder blade. He didn’t get a good look, but it was definitely a burn mark, similar to one a taser would leave behind.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity struggles and Slade makes some new introductions.

**Twelve Hours Earlier**

Felicity grumbled as she heard her alarm going off. Somehow, five am seemed to be coming earlier and earlier lately. She rolled over to turn it off, only for a jolt of pain to shoot through her shoulder. Startled, she sat up and began moving her left arm, trying to figure out why it was hurting. Had she slept on it weird or something? She began massaging the area, thinking it might just be uncomfortable when her hand passed over a patch of skin that felt weird.

She jumped out of bed and walked over to the full-length mirror next to her closet. She twisted her body so she could see her back in the reflection and noticed a mark right where her fingers had just been. It was a burn mark. Experience from working with computers told her it was an electrical burn.

“Well, that explains the pain.” She said. “But where did- how did-?” Felicity didn’t remember how she got the mark which was concerning. Either getting shocked by wiring or being tased was the kind of thing she would remember. This, combined with her gaps in memory last week, was freaking her out. “Why does this keep happening to me?”

* * *

 

**Present**

Felicity came back from grabbing her phone and got settled at her console in the foundry. She was readjusting her chair when the others started to gather around her. Something about that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she didn’t know why.

“What’s up?” she asked, pretending to be fine.

“We, uh, after you left last night, we tracked Slade down.” Oliver said. “And it turns out he’s got an apprentice.”

“Well, we knew he was injecting people with Mirakuru.”

“It’s not just that. He’s training her too. Possibly for months.”

“Knowing our luck, this ‘apprentice’ is Isabel. Because why wouldn’t your vigilante enemy and your CEO enemy be in cahoots? I always loved that word, ‘cahoots’ it sounds so fun.” She said.

“The woman was blonde and that’s besides the point.” He responded. “Can you look into SCPD records for any missing blonde women going back the last nine months?”

“It hurts me that you need to ask.” Felicity said. “Consider it done.”

While the others trained, Felicity was scouring the SCPD’s system, and surrounding jurisdictions for any missing blonde women. A fair number went missing but most had been found by now. Of the few that hadn’t been found, Felicity had managed to track some of them down. They were living in other states under fake names to hide from someone or something. Whatever their reasons for disappearing were, they didn’t seem related to Slade’s work.

She was so engrossed with her search that she completely tuned out what the team was doing until Digg shouted “Felicity, look out!”

She turned just in time to see an arrow flying at her head. Instinctively, she reached an arm out to stop it and was shocked when she caught it. The lair went silent as everyone looked in shock.

“I did- that happened right? How did I do that?”

“Uh, luck probably. No offense.” Roy said.

“None taken.”

“Also, sorry my aim sucks. I was not aiming anywhere near you.”

“I didn’t think you were.”

“You okay?” John asked her.

“Besides the heart attack I just had? Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You shouldn’t be. Little Red Riding Arrow over there almost shot you.” a voice in her head said. The city was very quiet that night, so the team trained and everyone except Oliver went home early.

The next day, Felicity woke up in a very unhappy mood and she didn’t know why. She was on edge all day, nearly smacking Isabel who stopped by for her daily taunt and almost biting Oliver’s head off on several occasions. To top things off, her father had texted her in the early afternoon, saying he needed to speak with her as soon as she was done with work. She told him ‘no’ and he informed her that it wasn’t a request.

Wanting to pick her battles, Felicity went to the address he texted to her and found it was an office building. Her father was already inside.

“Why am I here?”

“Your training is coming along nicely. I think its time you met my subordinates, although they believe they’re my partners.”

“Yay.” Felicity deadpanned.

“You get to meet the other members of Evil Inc. You should be excited.” Goth Felicity said. “They probably aren’t as hot as Team No-Fun but at least they probably aren’t lame. Or maybe they are because Daddy Dearest likes them.” she shrugged.

“Put that on.” Slade gestured to the armor he’d given her a few days earlier. “I don’t want them to know your identity.”

“Ashamed of me?”

“No, but that information is priviledge and knowledge is power.”

She scoffed but went to change. She walked back into the office and sat in the shadows, waiting for Slade’s ‘partners’ to arrive. She didn’t have to wait long before the door opened and three people walked in.

“Woah, you were right.” Goth Felicity said from next to her as she saw Sebastian Blood, Isabel Rochev and a man she didn’t know enter the room. “Isabel and Dad are working together.”

“Why did you call us here?” Blood asked. “I had to cancel dinner with an important campaign donor.”

“I wasn’t aware that the donation I gave you was…insufficient. You should have had no need for other donors.” Slade said.

“I don’t need other donors, but it would look suspicious if I had just one person financing the campaign.”

“I don’t care about the mayoral race. At all. What’s this about?” Isabel said.

“You asked me what I was being so secretive about weeks ago. I have decided to tell you.” he said. “Meet my apprentice, Ravager.” As he spoke, Felicity stepped out from the shadows behind him. She glared for them from behind her mask with her arms crossed. “She’ll be keeping an eye on things when I’m not here. I’ll warn you, she’s not as forgiving or understanding as I am.”

Isabel and Sebastian looked unimpressed while the other man looked livid. “I’m not taking orders from some bitch.”

Ravager moved from her place behind Slade and walked around the table to where the trio were sitting. Without speaking, she drew one of her swords and stabbed it through the man’s heart. Then, she swung it, cut off his head and placed it on the table. When the man lost his head, blood spurted out of his neck and drenched both Isabel and Blood’s faces. They sat there in shock for several moments.

“Any other objections?” She asked. The other two had paled considerably and she returned to her spot behind Slade. “That’s what I thought.”

Slade was about to speak when he saw Donna move into his field of vision. Just like last time he had this hallucination, she was wearing a very revealing red dress. “That’s my girl.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Felicity tries to figure things out, the Clock King strikes and complicates matters.

Things hadn’t gone well for Felicity over the last few days. Two days ago, she’d woken up in bed once again to discover she didn’t know how she got there. To make matters worse, she had blood all over her when she woke up. The blonde was starting to worry something was happening to her or she was sleepwalking or something.

On top of that, Sara and Oliver had gotten back together. Felicity was an adult, she knew it was their choice, and mistake, to make and she shouldn’t take it personally, but she did. Oliver being with Sara meant his ‘I can’t be with someone I care about’ excuse after Russia was just that, an excuse. It didn’t make his actions hurt any less or their PDA any less aggravating to watch. They were together and happy and it made Felicity want to scream.

To top everything off, there was a hacker in Starling who was giving the team a lot of trouble. Since she had the most tech knowledge, the team was relying on her more than usual to stop them. When they kept failing, she could feel the team getting more and more annoyed at her. She had managed to ID him however, his name was William Tockman.

“What’s the point? He’ll be dead before he can spend all the money.”

“He’s not stealing it for himself. his sister has cystic fibrosis and needs a lung transplant.” She told them before giving Oliver and Sara the address to where he was.

“There’s no one here, just some device.”

“Of course not.” She muttered. “Whatever’s in the truck is transmitting the same signal Tockman used at the bank. I’m tracing it. its leading back to our network. He’s piggybacking off my hack, trying to break into our network.”

“I’m not trying.” Tockman’s voice came over the comms. “Where are you? Are you home? Are you safe? Somewhere you think you're safe Somewhere without windows for anyone to creep through? Underground, perhaps? You think no one can get to you? You think no one can touch you in the safety of your hidey hole? But I can.”

 

Felicity’s console began to spark as he spoke. Seconds later, it exploded as Digg pulled her away from the computer. The lights cut out as well. Oliver and Sara made it back to the lair while she was cleaning up the mess.

“How bad?”

Felicity took her glasses off, pinched her nose and spoke. “He used the skeleton key to penetrate our firewall and recode our security. Basically, he told our system to commit suicide and it did, bravo Clock King.”

“You’re just jealous you didn’t think to do the same to him first.” Her Goth self said. “Admit it.”

Sara and Oliver began hatching a plan to draw Tockman out while Felicity continued to work on fixing what he’d broken. They both wanted to know what they could do to help Felicity, but she told them to go to dinner with her family like they’d planned.

“As badass as both of you are, neither of you will be much help.” She remarked. “It’s not your area of expertise, no offense.”

“You can walk us through it.”

“I can, but I shouldn’t. I can do it easier on my own and needing to explain some of the things I’d need to would take a while and waste time.” she said as she put her glasses back on and focused on what she was doing. “Go be normal for an hour. I’ve got this.”

They left and Digg stayed to keep Felicity company. He tried to comfort Felicity about how she might be feeling about Oliver and Sara being together, but it didn’t work. She was too annoyed with the Clock King to hear much of what he said. After about an hour, Digg mentioned getting some Big Belly Burger and left. Seeing an opportunity, she waited five minutes and then left herself. Rather than stay underground and hope Oliver could stop Tockman, she was going to handle it herself.

Over an hour later, Felicity was standing in one of the offices of Starling National Bank when Oliver called her.

“Where are you? Digg said he went out to get food and you were gone when he got back.”

“Who are you, my mother?” she asked. “I figured the best place to be when Tockman struck Starling National was at Starling National. He took the bait, by the way.” She hung up before he could respond. She took her glasses off and shoved them into her jacket pocket. “Why did I stop wearing contacts again?” she scoffed.

“Something about the glasses making you look more harmless.” Her goth self answered.

In the foundry, Oliver heard a dial tone but was too shocked to notice right away. “Well, where is she?”

“She went there. She knew he’d go there, so that’s where she headed. To Starling National.”

“She went to a bank she knows is about to be robbed?” Digg asked.

“Yeah.” Oliver responded. “Let’s go.”

When they arrived at the bank, it was eerily quiet. Digg was going to find Felicity while Oliver and Sara went to deal with Tockman. They walked into the building, and saw a man knocked out on the floor. He was laying in a pool of his own blood.

Sara bent down to check his pulse and shook her head. “I don’t like this.”

“Me neither.”

“Let’s just find Felicity and get out of here.” Digg said as he headed further into the bank.

Unbeknownst to them, Felicity, Tockman and his last minion standing were right below their feet, fighting. After she’d beaten his last ally to a pulp, she turned her attention to Tockman.

“I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing it for her.”

“I don’t care.” Felicity answered as she moved to strike again. “You hacked into my system and blew my computer up.”

“Nothing personal.” He said as he pulled out a gun and aimed it at her. He fired and it grazed her arm.

“Shooting me isn’t gonna make me any less pissed off.” she said as she stormed over to him.

Unfortunately for Tockman, his condition meant he couldn’t move very quickly and it was easy for Felicity to overpower him. He wasn’t left as broken and bruised as his friends though, she didn’t see the point in wasting so much energy on a dead man walking.

“See? Now wasn’t that way more fun than just finding Tockman and telling Robin Hood about it?” Goth Felicity said.

She didn’t respond and started wiping the blood off her hands. She didn’t want Oliver or Digg, who were probably here by now, to find out her secret. When that was done, she sat down for a second to take a break. She closed her eyes for just a moment.

As the rest of the team made their way through the bank, they couldn’t find any trace of Felicity. They searched both floors and hadn’t found anything. They ran into plenty of unconscious bank robbers, but no Felicity.

“This isn’t a good sign.”

“Maybe she heard them arriving and hid. Or left. We don’t know that they took her.”

“Uh, guys….” Felicity’s voice came over the comms. She’d jerked awake a second ago and didn’t know where she was. “Please tell me you’re at Starling National Bank.”

“We are. Why?”

“I think I might be in the basement.”

All three raced downstairs. They found Felicity in an unfinished room. Tockman and two other men were unconscious on the floor.

“What happened?”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of the Clock King's attack, questions are raised and Isabel has no survival skills.

Sara, Oliver and John raced downstairs. They found Felicity in an unfinished room in the basement level of Starling National Bank. Tockman and two other men were unconscious on the floor.

“What happened?”

She didn’t answer immediately and was frantically looking around. She patted her jacket and breathed out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank Google. Thought he might’ve taken them. now that would’ve sucked.” She pulled her glasses out and put them on.

“Felicity, what happened?” Oliver repeated as he gestured to the unconscious criminals.

“I- I don’t- I’m not sure. It all- is that blood?” she answered pointing at the blood slowly pooling underneath one of the robbers. “I think I might’ve gotten hit in the head. I woke up down here and they were already like this. Is he dead?”

Sara went to check their pulses. “No, just knocked out.”

“Are you hurt?” John asked Felicity.

“I don’t think so.”

“Ok, that’s good. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Uh…..calling you to tell you I’d tracked Tockman here, I guess. But I was upstairs when I did that.”

“You don’t know how you got down here?” Oliver asked.

“Nope, no clue.” She said. “Can we- I don’t wanna be down here any longer. I got Tockman’s skeleton key, the robbery was stopped. Can we call the SCPD and go back to the foundry? Please?”

As John walked Felicity out of the building, Sara turned to Oliver. “How did he know?”

“How did who know what?”

“Don’t try to lie to me, Ollie. I know you and I can hear the wheels turning in your head. You’re thinking the same thing I am.” She said. she gestured to the mess that surrounded them. “We both know that was Slade Wilson.”

“Why would he leave though? It’s not like he seems to be worried about fighting us in the field.”

“I don’t- maybe in his own twisted version of reality, it made sense.” She argued. “The ‘why’ doesn’t worry me. Tockman was a threat to Felicity, so that makes sense. It’s the ‘how’ that I’m worried about. How did he know she was here?”

“I don’t know.”

 

After making a anonymous call to the police, Oliver and Sara arrived back at the foundry to find Digg fussing over Felicity who seemed annoyed.

“I told you, I’m fine.”

“The blood on your arm says otherwise.”

“Pretty sure it’s not my blood.” She argued. “I take it our bank robbers are taken care of.”

“Yes, the SCPD were entering the building right as we left.” Sara answered. “Pretty sure my dad’s gonna have questions about that tomorrow.”

“Ok, yay! Go team.” Felicity said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a tub of ice cream with my name on it.”

“Not so fast. We need to talk first.”

“Talk about what?”

“How your father knew where you were.”

“My fat- he wasn’t there.” She said.

“You don’t need to lie for him, Felicity. What happened to Tockman and his men, only someone with Mirakuru could’ve done that.”

“I’m not lying for him. I’m saying I didn’t see him and if he was there, why did he leave me in the creepy old basement surrounded by beaten up bank robbers?”

“Because he’s insane.” Sara spat out.

“The fact remains, he knew where you were and we need to know how.”

“Please tell me we aren’t going down the ‘Felicity’s a mole’ road again. I’m exhausted and I can only take being accused of that kind of thing once.”

“I don’t think you told him about any of this.”

“Good, I’m going home then, because I’m exhausted. Good night.” She said before walking away.

“You think we’re being watched.” John said to Oliver.

“Sara and I certainly didn’t tell Slade, you didn’t, and I think we can rule out Roy. Felicity’s vehement denial speaks for itself, and this isn’t something that would slip out mid-babble. That leaves one option: Slade has us under surveillance.”

 

Felicity only worked a half day the next day. She told Oliver she had a doctor’s appointment and would be leaving at lunchtime. Isabel was in the room when she said this and demanded more information. Felicity responded that it was illegal for Isabel to ask QC employees about any and all medical conditions. She then insinuated that HR might like to know that Isabel, the co-CEO, had asked her, an employee, to disclose private, personal information. She’d hate for a less understanding employee to take it out of context. Isabel’s mask faltered slightly and she stormed off.

“Actually, I think I’m gonna leave a little early. Visit the 8th floor.” Felicity said to Oliver. The 8th floor was where HR was.

“I’m not-“ He didn’t want Felicity to provoke Isabel, worried about what the other woman might do.

“The complaint won’t do anything like get her fired, it can’t. But it’ll get her out of my face for a few days.” She said as she walked over to the elevators. “Then again, who knows? Maybe I’m not the first person to file one and it’ll get her ousted.”

Felicity left work and headed to her father’s office. All day she’d felt on edge, but couldn’t get any of her frustrations out. Rendering Isabel speechless almost made her feel better, but not quite. She and Slade trained for a few hours before any of his cohorts arrived. Slade met with them shortly to discuss how his plans were going and what the next steps were. When that was done, Felicity told everyone to get back to work. As they were leaving, Isabel demanded to speak with her.

“You aren’t actually in charge here, I am.”

Before she could walk away, Felicity’s hand shot out and grabbed Isabel’s arm. “Does it feel like you’re in charge?”


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ravager and Isabel have a confrontation and a slip-up leads to Felicity putting some things together.

“You aren’t actually in charge here, I am.” Isabel said.

Before she could walk away, Felicity’s hand shot out and grabbed Isabel’s arm. “Does it feel like you’re in charge?”

“Let go of my arm.”

Her grip tightened and Isabel began to wince. “Make me.”

The brunette didn’t want to admit it, but she actually felt scared in the moment. The feeling didn’t last very long, but it still came over her. Realizing this was a mistake and she needed to regroup and rethink how to deal with Ravager, she tried to use her other arm to break the hold. She put all her strength behind her move, but it did nothing.

“Did you really think that would work? I’m a lot stronger than you.” Felicity said before using her free arm to hit Isabel across the face as she released the other arm. She went stumbling backwards from the force. “I’ve been waiting for this.”

“Ok, you’re in charge. I get it.” Isabel tried to back track, to talk the other woman who was clearly livid down. It didn’t work. “I shouldn’t have confronted you. I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not. And ‘sorry’ doesn’t cut it.” she said as she moved closer to Isabel. “I think I need to remind you not to challenge me again.”

She left Isabel bloody and bruised but still breathing in the warehouse. Eventually, Isabel picked herself up off the floor and went to find Slade.

“You gave her Mirakuru, didn’t you? Ravager.”

“And if I did?”

“She attacked me, you know. Keep your apprentice under control.”

“You provoked her.”

“Why does she get the serum but I, your partner for the last five years, don’t?”

“I believe we’ve already had this conversation. I don’t owe you an explanation. Do your job and don’t concern yourself with how I do mine.”

 

The next day, Felicity got up and went to work. She didn’t remember anything that happened the previous day after leaving work, but ignored the worry for now. She was only missing about 12 hours of time, not several days, and she hadn’t gotten any alerts indicating something bad had happened. Still, the fact that she couldn’t remember was a growing concern. She knew she should tell someone or talk to a doctor, but with Slade building an army or supersoldiers and Isabel gunning for QC, she didn’t have time to deal with that as well.

She got to QC and went straight to work. Around noon, Isabel appeared wanting to talk to Oliver. She noticed she was holding herself differently and moved like she was in pain. When she stopped Isabel from interrupting the private conversation Oliver was having, she crossed her arms in annoyance and Felicity noticed a dark bruise on her arm. It looked like someone very strong had grabbed her arm and refused to let go. She then noticed Isabel’s make-up was heavier than normal and her voice sounded different, almost like someone had tried to choke her. For some reason, seeing her hurt made Felicity feel happier but she couldn’t explain why. Isabel spoke with Oliver, they got into an argument and she stormed out.

“She’s acting weird. Very un-Isabel.” Felicity remarked.

“Seems as combative as ever to me.”

 

The next week was an emotional rollercoaster for Felicity. Some days, she was almost back to her normal self and the team made great strides in preventing Slade’s plans from progressing. They still hadn’t identified his mystery apprentice though. Other days, Felicity would be missing huge chunks of time and wake up with bruises she couldn’t explain.

Those days, she spent more time than she wanted with Slade, Isabel and Blood. She didn’t like being around her father, but dealt with it. Isabel seemed to remember what happened a few days earlier and went out of her way not to provoke or interact with her. Sebastian Blood continued to annoy her to no end. The day she met him, she knew Blood had no idea what Slade’s plan actually was. He thought all of this was a ploy, a way to make him mayor so he could remake Starling City. He had no idea that Slade didn’t want to control Starling, he wanted to destroy it. “This city needs someone to help it save itself” was a phrase he seemed to circle back to. She half wondered why he didn’t use that as his campaign slogan.

After a week, on one of Felicity’s better days, Sebastian Blood reached out to Oliver, wanting to discuss something with him over dinner. It seemed Blood was worried Oliver, and by extension Queen Consolidated, would pull its funding of various charities around Starling if Moira lost the mayoral race. He assured Sebastian that wasn’t the case. Felicity appeared towards the end of the meal about a ‘work emergency’ that required Oliver’s attention.

“I wish your mother the best of luck in the race. We may differ, but we aren’t that different.” Blood said.

Felicity was waiting for Oliver and pretending not to eavesdrop on them. She couldn’t explain it but she had a feeling she’d met Blood before somewhere. Not seen him, everyone in the city had seen him on the news, but she had a feeling she knew him from somewhere.

“I’m not sure I see it.”

“We both know what this city needs. This city needs someone to help it save itself.” Blood told him as he stood up and thanked Oliver for his time.

Felicity instantly stilled. That phrase, she knew it exactly where and when she’d heard it. Events over the last month, things she had blocked out until now or tried to forget came rushing back to her. She took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose as all the memories of her ‘missing time’ resurfaced.

She opened her eyes and saw the goth version of herself standing there. “Let’s kick his ass.”

She made some excuse about waiting for Oliver outside while he paid the bill and followed Blood out. He was waiting by the curb for his security detail to return with his car when he noticed her. Her back was to him as she contemplated how to confront him. Luckily, she didn’t have to.

“Ms. Smoak, I thought you were waiting inside for Mr. Queen?”

She turned around to face him with a sinister smile on her face. She advanced towards him. “I was going to, but then I remembered how much I wanted to knock that smug look off your face.”

“I’m not sure I under-“

“No, you wouldn’t, would you?” She interrupted him.

The restaurant was located on a fairly quiet street and wasn’t as popular as Table Salt or other downtown establishments. This meant there wasn’t anyone outside to witness Felicity’s next move.

She punched Blood in the face. Then, she hit him again. He tried to defend himself, tried to talk her down but it didn’t work. She was livid. He was running for mayor and had allied himself with Slade, the man who wanted to destroy Starling. And, if her new memories were right, he sought Slade out, not the other way around. He kidnapped Roy and drugged him. He probably helped Cooper get Brother Eye set up. she lost count of how many times she hit him but at some point, she heard a car approaching and took off.

This was all too much. She had too many memories, remembered doing too many horrible things. She needed to get away. She couldn’t be near anyone, especially not Oliver, right now.

Oliver left the restaurant to find Blood, who looked like he’d been beaten within an inch of his life, being dragged away by his bodyguards. Felicity was nowhere in sight.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity deals with getting her Ravager memories back and tries to steer Oliver in the right direction without revealing too much.

Felicity left Sebastian Blood bleeding on the pavement and took off. Eventually, she lost her heels but just kept running. She didn’t process anything until she was home in her bathroom with the door locked. As memory after gruesome memory from the last several weeks hit her, she began to feel more and more sick to her stomach.

At some point, she got undressed and stepped into a steaming hot shower. She felt wrong. She felt dirty and disgusting and showering made sense. It didn’t make sense, but she hoped somehow she could wash everything she’d done, everything Slade had made her do, away and down the drain. Like if she scrubbed hard enough, the Mirakuru would be gone and she’d go back to normal. She stayed in the shower until the water was ice cold.

She couldn’t get the images out of her head and she felt like there was still blood on her hands. She’d attacked her team, nearly killing Oliver. She beat Isabel more than once. She’d killed someone, cut off his head because he called her a bitch. She’d nearly killed Sebastian Blood tonight. She was a monster. Her father had turned her into a monster, just like him.

She changed into yoga pants and an oversized sweater before curling up on her couch. It wasn’t until then that her brain registered the repetitive noise coming from her cellphone. She checked the device to see she had 10 missed calls and over 20 text messages, all from Oliver. In her rush to get as far away from Blood as possible, she’d completely forgotten about him or how worried he might be.

The first few texts were asking where she was. The next few were him demanding some kind of response from her, thinking she was in trouble. The last handful were him saying if she didn’t respond in a certain amount of time, he was coming to find her followed by him telling her he was on his way to her place. She was just reaching the end of the messages when there was a knock on the door.

“Felicity?” Oliver yelled through the door.

“Coming.” She took a deep breath, came up with her story and opened the door. “What’s up?”

“What happened? Where were you? Why didn’t you answer? Did they hurt you?”

“Woah, woah. Slow down. What are you talking about?”

“I left the restaurant and you were gone. You were gone and the only person outside was Blood who looked like he’d been beaten within an inch of his life. I thought-”

“Sebastian Blood was attacked?”

“Yes. Where were you?”

“I went outside and he started trying to talk to me. I started getting this weird vibe from him, like a really creepy vibe. Sorta like the Count. Anyway, I came home because he was making me feel really, really uncomfortable.”

“That doesn’t explain why you didn’t answer any of my calls or texts.”

“I lost track of time. I was looking for something, anything, to get Isabel out of QC. There’s a chance Slade showing and Isabel trying to buy QC aren’t coincidences.”

“You think they’re working together.”

Felicity knew they were, but she couldn’t tell him that without admitting to having Mirakuru and being Slade’s apprentice. “I’m saying its possible, and I’m willing to believe they are until something proves me wrong.”

“Well, did you find anything?”

“I found out why she’s dead-set on taking over QC. She had a thing. With your father.” Felicity said, repeating what she’d overheard from some of Slade’s other men and Isabel herself. “By the looks of things, it lasted longer than most of his affairs. Maybe he said he was going to leave your mom, maybe he promised her something, I don’t know. but eventually it ended. Her internship was cancelled and from the looks of things, your father never saw or spoke to her again.”

“My father had plenty of affairs. None of the others planned hostile takeovers.”

“Maybe not, but as the saying goes ‘bitches be crazy’.” Felicity said. “Even if she isn’t working with Slade, which I haven’t ruled out, she’s still trying to get QC. I’ve looked into her, she’s laying the groundwork for something and has been for a while. She’s smoozing the Board. She’s diluting your family’s stocks. You need to be careful.”

Oliver took everything Felicity said very seriously, but he couldn’t shake the feeling there was something she wasn’t telling him. Her behavior was off but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

 

The next evening, Felicity was back in Ravager mode, caused by an unfortunate run-in with one of QC’s many judgmental gossip queens, and wound up at Slade’s base. She was standing behind Slade in her usual angry stance when Sebastian Blood came in. his face wasn’t covered in blood like the last time she’d seen him, but he didn’t look great. Slade looked amused.

“You look like shit.”

“I was attacked by Oliver Queen’s assistant.”

“And why were you anywhere near her? I told you not to approach her.”

“I didn’t. I had a dinner meeting with Queen that she interrupted, citing a problem at the office.”

“So, she just showed up and attacked you?”

“From what I remember, she punched me in the face and the rest is kinda fuzzy. We need to do something about her. She attacked me and this happened. I had to cancel a campaign event. I can’t afford to be cancelling events with the race so close. I don’t know why you don’t want her out of the way but she’s becoming-“

Before he could finish, Slade had stood up, stalked over to Blood, grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to the wall. “I don’t know what’s worse, your whining or the fact you were beaten up by a girl.” Sebastian started to make a choking sound, so he released him. “You will tell everyone this is a mugging. You won’t mention Felicity Smoak at all.”

“Why?”

“Are you questioning me?” He asked threateningly.

“No.” Sebastian answered, remembering what had happened to his second-in-command last week. He sprinted from the room.

“You attacked Sebastian Blood.”

“He made me angry so I wiped that smug look off his face. Besides, its your fault it happened.”

“You attacked him.”

“And you injected me with your stupid rage serum that makes me want to kill people. So don’t sit there and act like you’re completely innocent. And you aren’t angry.”

“If he finds out-“

“He won’t, I hit him rather hard. Even if he does, who would believe him?”


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Felicity's memories restored, she struggles to deal with both sides of herself. Slade's plans move forwards and Oliver realizes he has one more trick up his sleeve.

Two days later, Slade was anxiously pacing his office. He’d been trying to reach Felicity all day, to no avail. He had plans, big plans, for today and the following day and the easiest way to guarantee success was for her to help him with his plans.

He supposed her lack of response shouldn’t surprise him. She’d been acting slightly off for the last few days, and prior to that, had run very hot and cold when it came to him. Some days she tolerated him, others she didn’t want to be in the same city, let alone the same room as him.

When it became obvious that Felicity wasn’t going to contact him, and thus wouldn’t be helping him, Slade had to adjust his plans. Her help would’ve been nice, but it wasn’t required.

“It appears to be time for Plan B.” he said to Blood.

“I thought Ravager was going to handle this.”

“As did I, but it appears she’s indisposed. Plans change, adjust. Thea Queen isn’t going to kidnap herself.” He said as he stalked over to his limo.

Across town, Felicity had locked herself in her bathroom and away from her phone. She’d been on edge all day, trying as hard as she could to keep her Mirakuru side under control. She was doing a good job until Isabel came around to yell at Oliver. Then, her control began to slip. Ravager never came out, but she lingered far too close to the surface for her liking. It didn’t help that she was seeing Ravager in the mirror instead of her reflection. Hence, Felicity’s current position.

“You realize I can just unlock the door.” Ravager said.

“I’m not walking out of here until you go away.”

“Go away? You realize I’m you, right? You can’t exactly escape from yourself.”

“No, but I can stay in here until you go back ‘under’ or whatever and I don’t need to worry about attacking anyone. Or killing people.”

“Please, you had fun. Admit it.”

“No, I didn’t. You had fun. You’re not me.”

“I’m not that different from you either.”

“If she wants to be boring, let her be boring.” The goth version of Felicity scoffed from behind her. “She can’t keep you under forever and I’m already sick of being locked in here.”

“That gives me even less of a reason to unlock the door.”

“Please, we all know what will happen. You’ll stay in here for a little bit, then Oliver, with his sexy…everything, will call for your help and you’ll leave. He’ll say something to piss you off after, you’ll try to resist letting Ravager take over and fail. Let’s just get this over with.”

“No. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to hurt people. Or help Slade with his ‘arg, I’m gonna destroy Starling to destroy Oliver’ plot.”

“If that were completely true, why didn’t you tell your precious Oliver the truth after you attacked Blood?” Her reflection asked. “You don’t wanna help him, but you don’t completely want to stop him.”

“No, you don’t. Because he gave me his stupid crazy juice and I can’t get rid of you!”

“Semantics.”

Felicity closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. She counted backwards from a million by prime numbers and then back up to a million when her mind was still racing. She opened her eyes and Ravager wasn’t staring back at her. After a few more minutes, she unlocked the door and left the bathroom.

She found her phone and saw she had two texts from Oliver and over a dozen missed calls from Slade. As she began deleting his calls, and messages, he called again.

“I’ve been calling you for hours.”

“And I’ve been ignoring you for hours. What do you want?”

“I wanted your assistance with a matter involving Thea Queen, but I proceeded without you.”

“So, why are you calling me?”

“I wanted to know what your reason was for neglecting your duties.”

“Neglecting my duties? I don’t work for you!” She yelled. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.” she hung up the phone. Then, the conversation replayed in her mind. Slade had done something to Thea. She had to call Oliver to warn him. He didn’t answer.

Felicity raced to the foundry and was about to start her search for Thea. Then, Oliver called in a panic. A video of Thea begging for help had been played at the mayoral debate. The others arrived at the foundry shortly after the call ended.

“It’s Slade. It has to be.”

“Of course it is.”

“Oliver, if I had any idea, even the slightest clue that he was going to do this, or where he took her-“ Felicity started to say.

“I know.”

“But you had a clue, didn’t you?” Goth Felicity said, taking a step around Oliver. “Dear old Dad told you he had plans for Thea, and you didn’t tell him. You knew Sebastian Blood was the man under that skull mask, and you didn’t say anything. You even knew what Isabel’s purpose in this grand scheme is, and you hinted at it, but didn’t really warn anyone, did you?”

“I was already here when you called. I’m running traces, trying to get something off the video.”

“Thank you. I have to go to the office. With Thea missing, I need to step away from the company for a while. Whatever Isabel’s plans for QC are, she can’t pull them off in the next few days and Thea’s more important.”

“He’s gonna play right into her hands, and you’re gonna sit here and let him.”

“Be careful with how you step back. Isabel’s an opportunist.”

Over the next few hours, things went from bad to worse. Felicity found out where the video was taken and sent the team there. Slade was waiting for them but Thea wasn’t. Oliver turned Slade over to the police but he was released since he had a solid alibi. Isabel had called an emergency board meeting and talked the board into ousting Oliver as CEO. She revealed the fact that she was working with Slade all along before getting into a fight with Oliver. She told him where Thea was and to come alone to get her.

Oliver relayed all of this to the team. As they argued, Felicity thought back on the plans she knew her father had. He needed an army, a bigger army anyway. Keeping Oliver distracted was the easiest way to amass a large army quickly, and kidnapping Thea would certainly do that. With everyone on Team Arrow focused on Thea, Slade had plenty of time over the last few days to recruit said army. This was all a diversion.

“Why don’t you try to stop dead old Dad then?” Her hallucination asked after everyone had left. Oliver was going to get Thea while the others tried to locate Slade.

“How?”

“He’s looking for a group of violent, angry people to help him destroy the city. Where could he find a bunch of those in one place?”

“Iron Heights.”

 “I think they might notice if he tried to just waltz out with a bunch of prisoners.”

An idea struck her. Felicity had been so focused on her personal problems, she completely forgot about Iron Heights reopening a wing this week. “Not if they’re taken in transport.”

“Hacking a GPS satellite and a prison system network. And you think it was the serum that made you do bad things.” Her goth self said before vanishing.

She was too late. By the time she’d hacked the satellite and changed the route, Slade had already gotten to the bus and absconded with the prisoners. She started to run out of explatives. Why couldn’t she have remembered earlier? Or acted faster? Or seen what was right in front of her?

“Because a part of you doesn’t want him to fail.”

Everyone went home feeling defeated, except Roy who decided to leave Starling. The next morning, Felicity made it all the way inside QC before being told she was fired and to leave. Isabel was ‘nice’ enough to tell her in person in the crowded lobby. Ravager decided this was the last straw and that next time she saw Isabel, she’d kill her. Felicity, with some urging from her hallucination, went with a different approach. Somehow, Slade’s bank account, Isabel’s, and Blood’s campaign fund were emptied out. She also leaked a few thousand internal memos to make Isabel look bad.

“What are you playing at?” Slade yelled when she finally answered his call.

“What are you talking about?”

“My bank, Isabel’s, Blood’s campaign, Stellmoors internal memos.”

“What about them?”

“I know that was you.”

“And? You ruined my life. She destroyed my career. Blood I just plain hate. Oh, and Isabitch’s gonna have bigger problems soon enough.”

“Put it back.”

“Why would I do that? It wouldn’t really be revenge then, would it?” she asked before hanging up. Isabel had been stupid to provoke her like that.

 

With Queen Consolidated no longer under his control and Slade one step closer to having his army, Oliver was low on options. With QC’s resources, manufacturing Mirakuru would be easier than ever. With Roy gone, Team Arrow had one less person to fight against Slade. Oliver had to least try the peaceful approach. Slade wouldn’t listen to anything he said, but he might listen to someone else. He knocked on the door and braced himself.

“Mr. Queen? Felicity’s not here. After what happened this morning, she was really upset and took off.” Donna explained. “Even if she was, I don’t think she’d want to see you.”

“What happened this morning?”

“She was let go from QC. She expected it, but she didn’t expect that bitch Isabel Rochev to fire her in the middle of the lobby while also accusing her of sleeping with you to get a job.”

“I’m so sorry. When I asked Felicity to be my assistant, I had no idea-“

“That’s something you should tell her, not me.” she interrupted. “As I said, she isnt here.”

“I actually wanted to speak with you.” he admitted. “There’s something I haven’t told you about when Slade and I were on the island, something I don’t think he has either. Have you ever heard him mention Mirakuru?”


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver has a talk with Donna that reveals more than he knew, and Team Arrow makes plans to stop Slade.

“There’s something I haven’t told you about when Slade and I were on the island, something I don’t think he has either. Have you ever heard him mention Mirakuru?”

“No, I have no idea what that is.”

“There was a scientist. His name was Dr. Ivo. My second year on the island, he arrived looking for something.” Oliver began to explain. He stuck to the basics. Ivo was looking for Mirakuru, Slade was dying and they gave it to him. He recovered, but started going through some changes emotionally. Slade wasn’t doing well psychologically when Oliver thought he died. “There was a woman there, named Shado. She was a friend of ours. She was killed by Ivo and Slade blames me.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“He swore revenge on me. I’m worried about what he might do. and how it might effect Felicity.”

“You think he’s gonna hurt her?” Donna asked.

“I don’t know. I hope not. I think if anyone could get through to Slade, talk him out of doing something he’d regret, its you.” Oliver said. “With the Mirakuru still in his bloodstream, I don’t know if it’ll-“

“He still has the Mirakuru? Its in his blood?” She asked frantically.

“Yes. That’s how he survived when I thought he died.”

“I’ll see what I can do. You should go.”

Slade and Donna would be having a very interesting conversation when he came back, to say the least.

 

Felicity was in the foundry, tirelessly working to find a way to stop her father. If he couldn’t recreate the serum, he couldn’t build his army as quickly. They could slowly pick away at his men until he didn’t have anyone left. It was possible, unlikely but possible. Even if it didn’t work, Applied Sciences needed to go. Technology like that in the hands of Isabel made even her alter ego shudder.

“Hey, you okay?” Oliver asked. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for five minutes.”

“Yeah, I’m just- I need to stop Slade. I hacked his accounts, made things a little harder, but it will only delay things so long.”

“Tell him.” Goth Felicity said. “Tell him you’re Ravager. Tell him you have Mirakuru. What damage could it do at this point?”

“Any luck?”

“You’re not gonna like it. If I were Slade, and I now had all of Queen Consolidated’s resources at my disposal, I’d use Applied Sciences to make more Mirakuru. Isabel’s purging all the employees loyal to the Queen family as we speak. Leaving only the one’s who’ll listen to her and the one’s too scared to argue behind. Everything he needs to make thousands more like him is in that building.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“We can’t let him have access to equipment like that.” she said. “John and Sara would agree and I’m sure you don’t want him to either.”

“So what? We destroy the lab?”

“If that’s what it takes, yes.”

 

Isabel, upon learning she had no money in any of her accounts, stormed into Slade’s office. “Oliver’s out of QC. Please tell me I can kill Felicity Smoak now.”

“No, you can’t. And no, I won’t explain why.” He answered point blank. “May I ask why you want to?”

“She hacked my bank accounts. I’m completely broke. She also leaked thousands of documents from Stellmoor, none of which paint me in the best light.”

“You should’ve just fired her instead of causing a scene.” He reasoned. “When you piss off a computer hacker, things like this tend to happen. If its any consolation, you aren’t the only person she targeted.”

“And you still don’t want to kill her? Or in the very least have one of Blood’s followers at SCPD arrest her? She wouldn’t last very long in prison.”

“There’s no proof. No evidence linking her to what happened. I had our people check. They wouldn’t be able to hold her long enough for anything useful to happen.” he said. “And as I said, I have my own plans for Ms. Smoak. Plans that are already in motion. Plans you will not interfere with.”

 

While Oliver, Felicity, John and Sara were driving to Applied Sciences to level the building, Slade thought he should go see Donna. He hadn’t seen her in several days and didn’t want to arouse any suspicions. He opened Felicity’s front door only for a vase to go flying at his head.

“You Aussie asshole!” Donna shouted as she threw something else. He caught it this time.

“You’re angry. Why?”

“Why? Why?! Your old friend Oliver stopped by to talk to me. He told me about the serum in your blood.”

“You know about Mirakuru.”

“Yes, and I know you gave Felicity a blood transfusion, which means she has Mirakuru too, doesn’t she?”

“She does.”

“That’s why she’s been acting so weird, isn’t it?”

“The serum can cause personality changes.”

“Did you plan this? Did you set this whole thing up to give her Mirakuru? To make Oliver suffer?”

“Not entirely. I was always going to give her the serum in my blood, and I want to make the kid pay, but I didn’t help or encourage her ex-boyfriend to abduct her. The situation was simply too good to pass up.”

“Too good to pass up? She’s our daughter!”

“I’m aware of that.”

Donna didn’t say anything. She was too furious to form words. If this had been a lapse in judgement, she would’ve ben angry enough. It wasn’t though, Slade was fully aware of what he was doing and chose to subject Felicity to this. Instead of saying anything, she lifted her right hand up, pulled her arm back and punched Slade directly in the face. “Ow! Fuck!” she said wringing her hand out. “Is your face made out of granite?”

“No, you don’t know how to throw a punch right.” He answered. “Are you all right?”

“Like you care.”

“I do.”

“If you cared, about me, about Felicity, you wouldn’t have come here. You would’ve stayed the hell away from us and not turned our daughter into a science experiment!” she said, grabbing her bag and heading towards the door.

“Where are you going?”

“The hell away from you.” She said, slamming the door behind her.

She had to find Oliver Queen. He knew about Mirakuru. He might be Donna’s best chance to help Felicity. The serum was affecting her, the real Felicity kept getting pushed to the side because of Slade’s stupid revenge plot. She needed to get her daughter back. 


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team makes a move, Oliver confesses to something, Donna runs into some trouble and Slade's 'setback' ends being in his favor.

Oliver, Sara, Felicity and Digg drove away from the Applied Sciences building. They’d planted the explosives to destroy the building. Felicity had almost gotten caught by a security guard, but thanks to a well timed hit, which she told everyone was a ‘lucky shot’, they didn’t run into any problems.

“Thermal shows everybody’s out.” Felicity told him, looking over the schematics from her tablet.

Oliver nodded and turned a switch on the remote detonator, activating the explosives. He didn’t hit the button to set them off though.

“It’s just a building, Oliver.” John reminded him.

He nodded and pressed the button. The Robert Queen Applied Sciences building exploded and went up in flames as they drove away.

 

News of Applied Science’s destruction spread fast. Before long, Isabel Rochev was on TV, making a speech about the cowardice needed to destroy a building aimed at improving the lives of others and condemning anyone involved.

“When she pulled her little ‘I’m in charge’ act, you really should’ve just shot her in the head.” The voice in Felicity’s head said.

“For the record, I hated her before we found out she was a supervillain.” Felicity told them. They began discussing what Slade needed now to build his army. He didn’t have access to QC’s industrial grade lab equipment, but that wasn’t going to stop him.

“All this will do is set him back. We have no way of knowing where the next attack is coming from.”

With nothing else to do at the moment, the team dispersed. Oliver pulled Felicity aside. “I need to talk to you.”

“Okay, why?” she said. His phrasing worried her.

“I went to see your mom. I thought- I’m running a little low on options. I thought if anyone could talk Slade out of his insane plan-“

“It would be my mom. What happened?” She asked. she needed to know how much he’d told her mother, and more importantly, what Donna may have told him. “Wait, before that, what did you tell her?”

“I told her about Mirakuru. About what his plan was and why he was doing it.”

“And how did she react?”

“Clearly, she didn’t tell him about your little blood drive.” Her hallucination said. “Because, you know, he hasn’t demanded answers from you yet.”

“She kinda freaked out. Told me she’d talk to him but seemed to be worried about something else.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Felicity asked angrily.

“I didn’t- we had more pressing-“

“My mother now knows what’s going on. She could go to the police, she could try to confront him and he’s such a whack job, I don’t know what he’ll do. He could hurt her, or kill her. Did that cross your mind when you decided to do this?”

“I-“

“Never mind.” She scoffed before heading to her car. She had to get home, now. She needed to talk to her mom before she could confront Slade or tell someone about Felicity having the Mirakuru. Oliver watched her go and wondered if he’d made a huge mistake.

 

When Donna stormed out of Felicity’s apartment, she didn’t really know where she was heading. She knew she needed to find Oliver, but had no plan on how to do that. She didn’t have his phone number or know where he was. the only place she could think of going was Verdant, the club he opened.

She turned down the street where Verdant was, only to collide with Slade. “Get out of my way.”

“No.” he said grabbing her arm. “You won’t be seeing Oliver Queen or telling him anything.”

“Oh really? Well, if you wanna stop me, you’re gonna have to kill me.” Donna told him.

“No, I don’t.” he told her as he dragged her away from the club.

 

Felicity arrived home and unlocked the door. Her apartment was quiet. way too quiet. She opened the door to find a vase in pieces on the floor. Looking around, it was clear some kind of fight or confrontation had happened. Panic set in. she needed to go back to the foundry. She needed to find her mother. she took her glasses off and began pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Let the fun begin.” Goth Felicity said.

“I’m gonna kick his ass into next week.” Ravager said with a smirk.

 

When she got back to the foundry, she saw Sara, Digg and Oliver all sprawled out on the floor groaning. Clearly, something had happened, but she couldn’t find it in her to care. “What happened?”

“Slade broke in and tried to kill us.”

“Not to be mean, but I doubt that. if he wanted you dead, you would be.” She said in a bored tone as she began starting up her computers. She started looking around and noticed something. “Yeah, he wasn’t trying to kill you.”

“Then why was he here?”

“I don’t know, but the skeleton key’s missing, so- “ She trailed off.

“He stole that. What use could he-?”

“Break into a lab, steal another biotransfuser. Probably the prototype one at Star Labs since it’s the most advanced one he can find.” She answered. “I’d help you out, but I have bigger problems.”

“Bigger problems? What bigger problems?”

“My mom’s missing. I went home, she wasn’t there. There were signs of a fight. I called her and she didn’t answer. Considering what she now knows, I’m worried.”

“What do you mean ‘what she knows’?”

“Oliver told her about Mirakuru, hoping she could talk him down or something.” She scoffed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find my mom.”

“Slade probably took her to keep her from going to the police. She’s fine.” Sara tried to assure her.

“And how exactly would you know that? You don’t, so don’t try to placate me.” She responded. An alarm sounded on her computer. “And, now he has his biotransfuser. Star Labs was attacked about ten minutes ago.”

“I know you’re concerned about your mother, but can you look for her while also helping us track Slade down?” Oliver asked. “No one knows tech like you. Once we find where he is, we’ll take care of the rest.”

The machine Slade stole needed a massive amount of power. Felicity knew the second it was turned on and told the team. As soon as they had a location, she took off in the same direction to find her mother. Oliver arrived at the abandoned warehouse to find not Slade, but Roy, attached to the machine. When he tried to remove Roy, Slade and Isabel interfered. They  began to fight, with Oliver destroying the machine. Isabel tried to shoot Oliver, which forced John to shoot and kill her. They took Roy back to the foundry, sedated him and sent a sample of Mirakuru to Star Labs to create a cure. Felicity was gone. She left a note by her console, saying she’d kept up her end of the deal. In the note, she told Oliver Blood was working with Slade.

Slade looked down at Isabel’s corpse and then back at the empty syringe in his hands. He’d given Isabel the Mirakuru and now waited for her to wake up.

“Tell me you aren’t serious.” Felicity’s voice said from behind him.

“She was a good partner.”

“She was never really your partner, and she’s outlived her usefulness.” She said.

“She was far more loyal than you.”

“You experimented on me and gave me a substance that drove me partially insane. Did you expect a thank you?  I’m here aren’t I?” She said, stepping around her father. She pulled out one of her guns and held it against Isabel’s head. “How about this? You tell me where my mother is, and I don’t blow her brains out.” He didn’t speak but pointed up to the second floor of the building. Donna stood there staring down at both of them looking horror-struck. “Let her go.”

“I will, after we destroy Oliver Queen.”

Months of anger came bubbling to the surface. If it wasn’t for Oliver, her mom wouldn’t be in this situation. Felicity wouldn’t either, if he’d killed Slade years ago. She’d still have a job and wouldn’t be dealing with everyone in the business world gossiping behind her back. She wouldn’t be struggling with another personality. Not to mention the hypocrisy he kept spewing out. Oliver dropped everything, to the city’s detriment, when Thea was missing, but Felicity wasn’t allowed to do the same. Sara had killed people to keep her family safe, but Felicity couldn’t leave the team on their own for one night to find her mother. she made a decision right then and there. She might hate her father, but Oliver needed to pay.

“Then what are we waiting for?”


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The siege starts and Oliver gets the shock of the century

Isabel awoke from her Mirakuru transformation to see Slade and Ravager standing over her. They were arguing about something, although she was still too groggy to understand exactly what they were saying.

“Oh look, she lived.” Ravager deadpanned. “And I was about to celebrate.”

“I won’t ask you to be nice, but at the very least, be polite.”

“Why should I?” she turned to Isabel. “Are you just gonna lie there or are you actually gonna be useful for once?”

The brunette sat up. “I have the serum now too. You can’t push me around. We’re equals.” Isabel said in a cocky tone.

Felicity didn’t respond, but grabbed her by the neck and pinned her against the wall. “Don’t get cocky, it makes me want to kill you. Which would be a waste of the serum. You might be stronger now, but we aren’t equals.” She released her. “Save it. I’ve got better shit to do than listen to whatever comeback you’re about to say.”

She needed to go talk to her mother, and try to calm her down. Felicity walked into the office where Slade was holding Donna and tried to ignore the look on her mother’s face. She stood next to the closed door and waiting for her mother to say something.

“So, its true.”

“Yeah, Dad gave me his infected blood. It’s, well, you saw how its changed me.”

“She hates you now.” Goth Felicity said. “You aren’t her daughter anymore, not really.”

“God! Will you shut up?!” she shouted. Donna’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Felicity hadn’t been looking at her when she said that and she didn’t know who she was talking to. “Can you go away for like five minutes?”

“Well, bravo. Now she knows you’re hallucinating and losing your mind.” Goth Felicity said before disappearing.

“Baby, who are you talking to?” Donna asked.

“Ever since- since I’ve been like this, sometimes I- I see things, well, see people. Ones who aren’t there.” She said quietly. “That’s not- it doesn’t matter right now. Did he- he didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“No, he threw me over his shoulder like a Neanderthal so I couldn’t find Mr. Queen, but he didn’t hurt me.”

“Why were you looking for Oliver?”

“So he can help you. This- the way you’ve been acting the last few months, it isn’t you. if Oliver knows how it happened, I thought he might know how to fix you.”

“What if I don’t wanna be fixed?” She asked angrily.

“Felicity, I-“ Donna didn’t get a chance to finish before she stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

 

Things were quiet, way too quiet, the day after Oliver and John saved Roy from Slade. There hadn’t been any sightings of Isabel or Slade at all. No suspicious activity that sounded like Mirakuru. Oliver was positive this was the calm before the storm. Sara left Starling to ‘find a friend’ as soon as Roy was safe and Felicity hadn’t checked in at all.

“Still no sign of her?” Digg asked.

“Nope. No calls, no texts, I tried pinging her phone but it didn’t work. Either its off or-“

“Or she made it untraceable. Felicity’s only gonna be found it she wants to be.” He finished. “You think this might be part of Slade’s plan. Take Donna to distract Felicity, keep her off the board for whatever his big plan is.”

“I don’t know. Its possible, I guess. And unlike you, Roy or Sara, he wouldn’t try to kill Felicity or Donna. I just can’t help but think that I might’ve made things worse by telling Donna about Mirakuru. What if telling her put both of them in more danger?”

“Felicity’s strong, and from what I know she got that from Donna, they’ll both be fine.” John said. “You find anything to back-up what was in Felicity’s note?”

While they were looking for Roy, Felicity had disappeared. She left a note next to her computer that just said ‘Sebastian Blood has been working with Slade this whole time’. it didn’t explain how she knew that, and Oliver was looking for some kind of proof before confronting the man.

“No. I might just have to confront him and see how he reacts.” Oliver said. He pulled out his phone and dialed Blood’s number, asking if they could meet. They met at Blood’s campaign office. The alderman’s face was still recovering from his mugging the night he’d met with Oliver.

“Your mother and I don’t agree on much, but we both want what’s best for this city.” Sebastian said. “If elected, I will help this city find its heart again.”

“Do you really think that he will let that happen?” Oliver countered, leaning forward. Blood gave him a confused look. “Slade Wilson.”

“How do you know I’m working with Slade Wilson?”

“A hunch, that you just confirmed.” He answered, before pulling his arm back and punching Blood in the face. “I know because I’m the Arrow. You claim you want to save this city. Do you really think there’s going to be a city left to save after you unleash Slade’s Mirakuru army?”

“They’re only going to do enough damage to-“

“Whatever he promised you, he won’t deliver. You are a pawn in a much larger game." Oliver turned to go. “You want to help this city? Go to the police and tell them everything.”

“It’s too late for that. It’s a new day in Starling City, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

When he was sure Oliver was gone, Sebastian rushed over to Slade’s office to tell him that Oliver knew what was going on. He didn’t get the reaction he was expecting. Neither Slade nor Isabel or Ravager were surprised. In fact, they seemed to be happy about it.

Oliver returned to the foundry and told Digg everything that had happened during his meeting with Blood. Upon hearing the man’s ‘you’re too late’ comment, the archer concluded that there was only one way forward. They needed to kill Slade’s army before they could wreak havoc on the city. Using some of Felicity’s programs, they were able to pinpoint a likely location for the army to be gathering. Every enhanced soldier in one place was the ideal target. Felicity still wasn’t answering her phone, leaving Oliver and Digg to handle things themselves.

John was planting explosives on one side of the building they’d tracked them to. Oliver was planting the explosives on the other. He was about to set the last charge when he felt a blade against his neck.

“Sorry, I can’t let you do that.” A female voice said from behind him. He spun around to see Ravager, still masked, standing there. “You’ll trap all my friends underground.”

“That’s the point.” He growled before attacking.

The woman was stronger, but he was more experienced and better trained. He knocked the sword out of her hands easily. She pulled out a gun and started firing at him, he dodged the bullets long enough to disarm her. They fought hand-to-hand for a while until he got a lucky hit in and knocked her to the ground. When she fell, she rolled and her goggles came off. He nocked a tranq arrow and aimed it at her.

“Stay down.”

“Not a chance.” She said rushing to her feet and swatting the bow out of his hands.

They continued to fight. Oliver took a pretty bad beating for several minutes before he was able to outmaneuver her again. It was a cheap shot, but when she tried to put him into a choke hold, he slammed his head backwards into hers, disorienting her. She staggered backwards, and while trying to recover, Oliver got her in the face with a right hook. The mask covering her mouth flew off. Ravager looked back at him and Oliver froze.

“Felicity?”


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver gets the shock of his life, the siege begins and Felicity gets a little bit of payback.

Oliver and Ravager fought. He took a pretty bad beating for several minutes before he was able to outmaneuver her again. It was a cheap shot, but when she tried to put him into a choke hold, he slammed his head backwards into hers, disorienting her. She staggered backwards, and while trying to recover, Oliver got her in the face with a right hook. The mask covering her mouth flew off. Ravager looked back at him and Oliver froze.

“Felicity?” There was camo paint around her eyes, and she was missing her glasses, but Oliver knew as soon as she turned that it was Felicity.

While he was trying to process this revelation, Felicity tackled him and pinned him to the floor. “Sorry, sweetheart, Felicity isn’t here right now. I am Ravager. Hear me roar.” She licked his face before getting off of him.

“I don’t- this isn’t- how?”

“It’s all about blood. You’re a smart man, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

“How long-?”

“I didn’t have it before my dad came to town. I didn’t even know I was like this until Blood jogged my memory at the restaurant.” She said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a city to destroy.” She said as she bopped him on the nose. “Try not to get too banged up. You aren’t as sexy covered in blood, unless its someone else’s.”

“Felicity, this isn’t you.”

“It isn’t not me either.”

Oliver began to panic. “We can- there’s a cure. Star Labs is working on one. We can fix you.”

“I don’t need to be fixed.” She said with a sinister smile before hitting him across the face.

When Oliver got back to his feet, Felicity was gone.

 

Slade stood in Isabel’s office surveying the damage and destruction his men were unleashing on the city below. It was beautiful. Not, more than that, it was a glorious sight.

“Isn’t it wonderful, Shado?”

“It’s nice, but its not enough.” His Shado hallucination said.

“Who the hell is Shado?” Donna asked from where she was tied to a chair. Every time someone came close to her, she hit them, so Slade eventually tied her to a chair so she couldn’t cause any more trouble.

For the last half hour, Slade had been talking to himself. Not thinking out loud or anything, but having an entire conversation with someone no one else seemed to see. It was beginning to concern her.

Isabel didn’t even react to Slade having a hostage. She doubted he’d explain her presence and she didn’t really care, so she left. She was a woman on a mission. She finally had the Mirakuru. It was time for her and Felicity Smoak to revisit their conversation from a few weeks ago.

 

Digg found Oliver in the foundry. It was completely trashed once again and the archer was just sitting on a stool in the center of the room, staring forward without blinking.

“Slade broke back in?”

“No, this was me.” he answered distractedly. “The woman in the mask. Slade’s apprentice.”

“What about her?”

“It’s Felicity. Ravager is Felicity.”

“No, you can’t- there’s no way- how do you know this?”

“She tried to stop me from blowing the charges. We fought, I knocked her mask off. I can’t deny proof like that.”

“How long has she-?”

“She didn’t say. She said ‘its all about Blood’ and that was it. She’d only met him once before that, so I don’t see the connection.”

“Are you sure she meant Sebastian Blood and not the bodily fluid?” Digg wondered.

Oliver heard the question and then something Donna had said days ago clicked in his mind. She seemed calm until he told her Slade’s blood had Mirakuru. “That’s it.”

“What’s it?”

“Slade and Felicity might have the same blood type. She was shot, and didn’t go to the hospital. If she needed a transfusion-“

“Slade would’ve given her some of his blood and that’s how she got the Mirakuru.” Digg finished. “That probably explains her hot-and-cold act after the shooting.”

“We need that cure. We need to help her, we need to stop her.” He said.

“That’s what I came here to tell you. Star Labs called, they have a cure.”

 

After her fight with Oliver, Felicity kept her mask off and tried to blend in, despite still wearing tactical armor. She could move undetected more easily as Felicity Smoak than as Ravager. She turned a corner and found herself face-to-face with Isabel.

 “So you were the one who tried to kill me. Good to know. That was bugging me. I mean, I suspected, you aren’t exactly subtle but-”

The brunette drew one of her swords and stalked closer to Felicity. “Oh, I have been waiting to do this for a long time.”

“So have I.” She said charging at Isabel. The other woman nearly dropped her weapon in shock at her actions. They began fighting and she soon realized she’d underestimated the blonde.

“How-?”

“He didn’t tell you, did he?” she tilted her head to the side.

“Why would he give you Mirakuru?” She asked in a disgusted tone.

“I don’t know. Dad’s are weird like that.” she said before running her sword through Isabel.

“Dad?”

“Yes. Slade Wilson is my father.” She said before pulling the sword out. Her adversary fell to the ground and blood started to pool beneath her. For good measure, Felicity stabbed her a second time, directly through the heart, before walking away.

Right as she left, her phone rang. It seemed Star Labs was done creating their Mirakuru cure. Slade had sent someone to intercept the courier, and his soldier had been successful. However, before the serum could be destroyed, someone stole the case. He suspected it was Sebastian Blood, since Slade had never intended to keep up his end of their deal.

She arrived at City Hall, the bodies of his dead aids and colleagues were still strewn around the building. Blood was in his office, pouring himself a drink.

“Now, where did we leave off, Mr. Mayor?”

“Ms. Smoak-?”

“Oh, he didn’t tell you either, did he?” She said with very little surprise. “Doesn’t matter. You’ll be too dead to care in a few minutes. Where is it?”

“Gone.”

“Gone. Given to Oliver Queen, I presume.’

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell Slade.” Blood turned around to dial his office phone. He’d only punched in the second number when Felicity attacked him from behind.

“No, you won’t.” She punched him in the abdomen. He turned in shock and she hit him again. Over and over, she hit him and he continued to get bloodier and bloodier. When he was a bloody, sobbing mess on the floor, she decided enough was enough. She picked him up off the floor and drove her sword through his chest, impaling him in the wall.

When the police arrived at City Hall, they found Blood pinned to the wall by a sword. His mask hung off the end of the weapon. Written behind him, in blood, were the words ‘blood traitor’.

 

In the clocktower, Oliver opened the case Sebastian had given him and looked inside. Rows and rows of the cure lined the case. For the first time all day, he had an inkling of hope. They had the cure, they could even the playing field. Now, he only needed to know that it worked. He looked over at Roy’s unconscious form as he loaded the serum into a syringe. He really hoped this would work. For Roy, for the city, for Felicity.

He injected Roy and waited with baited breath for something to happen. Nothing immediately did. Then, Digg walked over and said there was something he needed to see. It was all over the news, the Army had arrived to help with the situation in Starling. There was just one problem, the men arriving weren’t army, they were ARGUS. 


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the cure in their possession, the team strives to finally end this fight against Slade, and help Felicity.

Oliver got off the phone with Amanda Waller. Because of the threat Mirakuru posed to the general population, she was going to level the city at dawn. He argued that they had the cure, that he just needed more time, but she wouldn’t budge. He was trying to call his mother and Thea, urging both of them to get out of the city, but right as the call connected, an alarm went off inside the clocktower.

“What is that?”

“I set up a proximity alarm in case we had any intruders. We have intruders.” Digg explained as an Mirakuru soldier broke through the ceiling and attacked.

Just then, Roy woke up and tried to fight the man off. It was difficult without superstrength. He held him off long enough for Oliver to get the hatch to the ceiling closed. There were more soldiers behind him and they were clamoring to get into the attic. Out of options, Oliver fired a jettison arrow out of the tower and yelled for everyone to climb down it. he was the last to leave, and right as he exited, a helicopter flew up next to the building and fired a bazooka into the building, killing all of the Mirakuru soldiers inside.

Oliver stared up at the flames and grew worried. What if Felicity was one of the soldiers who’d just been killed? John seemed to guess that’s where his head was at and spoke up. “He wouldn’t have sent her.”

“What?”

“This is his endgame, right? He’s not gonna send her to get the cure from us if there’s a chance she might die.” he said. “We need to go.”

They headed back to the foundry with Lyla. Roy still seemed out of it and kept asking what he’d missed. They reached the lair and found it trashed, like they expected.

“Guys? I need you to scrounge as many weapons as you can find, especially injection arrows. We're going to fill them with the cure-- which clearly works-- and this ends tonight, without killing.” Oliver said as they planned out how to stop Slade.

  
“Slade has about fifty or so of those human weapons.” Digg pointed out as they gathered arrows. “We’re gonna need a whole army if we plan on hitting them with the cure.”

“I know.” Sara’s voice called out. Everyone turned and grabbed a weapon when they saw she wasn’t alone.

“Which is why an army is what I’ve brought.” Nyssa finished for her.

Oliver pulled Sara aside and started asking for an explanation of why she’d go to the League of Assassins for help. Sara rebutted by saying she was willing to do whatever was necessary to stop Slade and she hoped Oliver was too.

“I’m kinda surprised Felicity’s not here.”

“Slade got to her.” he told her.

“Meaning?”

“He gave her Mirakuru, she’s-.”

“She’s on his side.”

“Only because he forced the serum onto her. We have the cure now, we can fix it. I’m willing to do what I have to, but not if it means killing someone I care about because you and your pals refuse to see another way.”

“To fight the unthinkable, you have to be willing to do the unthinkable.”

“You may not want my help, Mr. Queen, but there's little question you are in desperate need of it.” Nyssa said.

“First we need to find Slade's base of operations.”

“Slade Wilson and Isabel Rochev are using your former office building as their base of operations.”

“We do this my way.”

“The League doesn’t take prisoners.”

“It does tonight.”

 

At Queen Consolidated, Felicity stood in front of Slade with her arms crossed and an annoyed look on her face. It seemed her was annoyed that she’d killed Isabel and that she’d killed Blood before he could tell her anything useful. Instead of goggles and a mask covering her mouth, Felicity was now wearing a mask that covered her eyes and forehead. It resembled her father’s mask, half black, half orange, but stopped just below her nose.

“Isabel was a loyal-“

“She tried to kill me, like four times. I don’t care how loyal or special or irreplaceable she thought she was, she tried to kill me, so I had to stop her.”

“And Blood?”

“He didn’t have the cure, so I killed him.”

“Did you even ask where it went?”

“We both know who he gave it to.” She answered. “And since he knows about my little….condition, its not like I could sneak it out from under his nose.”

“He knows you have the Mirakuru?”

“Well, he fought me and my mask came off, so yes.”

Before Slade could react to this revelation, a commotion started outside the office. She put her mask back on. They heard the sound of fighting and then several thuds. Moments later, Sara stepped out of the elevator. In the conference room, Felicity saw Oliver fighting several more men, and injecting them with something, most likely the cure. They both made their way into Oliver’s former office.

“You must have quite a bit of faith in this cure if you’ve come alone.”

“We didn’t come alone.”

Seconds later, Nyssa and other members of the League broke through the windows. They began firing injection arrows at everyone. The arrows bounced off of Felicity and Slade’s armor while the others were injected and began convulsing. Felicity made her way over to one of the broken windows and prepared to jump out. Before she could, she found herself face-to-face with Nyssa.

“I am Nyssa, daughter of the Demon.”

“I’m Ravager, daughter of Deathstroke.” Felicity answered before headbutting Nyssa out of the way. It seemed the other woman wasn’t expecting that and reeled backwards. Clutching her now broken nose. Felicity jumped out of the window. Moments later, her father followed.

Oliver stood in QC with Sara and Nyssa wondering what their next step should be. Lance arrived and told them Slade had taken Laurel. Seconds later, a report came in about Slade’s army making its way through a tunnel to exit the city. With everyone in one place, it was the perfect way to take out his army in one fell swoop. Lance wasn’t happy that Laurel wasn’t a priority, but acquiesced. Oliver, Roy, Sara and the League went into the tunnel and fought off his army. They were cured, and then someone called Oliver on the comms.

“You’ve been busy, kid.”

“It’s over Slade. Your army is broken.”

“How is it that you’re the one with both eyes, but you’re the blind one?” Felicity responded. “You missed the point.”

“Felicity?”

Slade cut in before she could say anything else. “You’re gonna meet me where I say, or I’ll take someone you love from you, as you did from me.”

“No, I’m done playing your games.”

“Fine. Then I hope Roy Harper, Sara Lance and your stepfather have all said their goodbyes.” The transmission ended.

In the warehouse where Thea, Moira and Laurel were being held, Felicity’s head snapped over to where Slade was standing. She knew he was going to use Laurel as bait. She didn’t care that much. She knew Moira and Thea were going to be bait. She knew he planning on killing one of them; she didn’t know he was planning on killing all of them. She didn’t care that much about Laurel or Moira, but Thea was another matter. It didn’t feel right.

“You’re killing them?”

“He needs to suffer, as I have. And you’re a part of this too, so we’re killing them.”

“I need some air.” She said before storming off.

The non-angry, non-Mirakuru, sane part of her brain was telling her to walk away. To leave now before she did something she couldn’t take back. She was about to head back inside to tell Slade to go screw himself when she felt a stabbing pain in her side and fell to the ground. She turned her head and saw Sara standing there, gripping an injection arrow.

"Oh, fuck you.” Goth Felicity said.

As the cure made its way through her veins, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to thank Sara or curse her out. Oliver walked over to where they were as her goth self vanished and she felt herself become less homicidal.

“Felicity?”

She held up a hand in a universal signal not to come closer. “I don’t- if I’m still all murder-y, you probably wanna stay back.” she turned to Sara. “Remind me to thank you later.”

“Where’s my sister?”

“In there, with Moira and Thea. He wants Oliver to watch them die.” she said. “What the hell have I done?”

“It wasn’t you, it was the Mirakuru.” Oliver tried to assure her. “We need to talk, but not now. We don’t have much time.”

“What do you-?”

“ARGUS is gonna bomb the city at dawn if Slade’s still at large.”

“Gimme one of your arrows.” Felicity told Oliver.

“What do-?”

“The second you walk into that building, he’s gonna have his sword at either Thea, Laurel or your mom’s throat. He’ll expect you or Sara to try and cure him. He won’t expect me.” she said. “And I need to do this. He injected me with Mirakuru without my knowledge. That nearly drove me insane and he used my condition to mess with my head and get me to help him. He turned me into a murderer. Give me the arrow.”

Oliver handed it over to her and she hid it up her sleeve. She put her mask back on and walked back into the building.

“Are we sure about this?” Sara wanted to believe Felicity would help them, but only minutes ago, she’d been working with Slade.

“No, but it might be the only way.”

Sara and two League members walked around the building to break in through the back door. Oliver walked in through the front door with his bow drawn. He heard Slade talking, mentioning how he should’ve killed Oliver the first time he met him. Oliver rounded the corner and saw Slade standing there with a sword at Thea’s throat. He ordered Oliver to put his bow down and as soon as he complied, two of his men entered the room with Moira and Laurel. Slade finished his monologue by saying Oliver was finally going to know how Slade felt so may years ago.

Oliver began talking. His speech was partially saying all the things he needed to. Shado wouldn’t have wanted Slade to have done all of this in her name. How horrified she’d be at him right now. The speech helped cover the sound of Felicity sneaking up on Slade. He saw her pulled the tip of the arrow out of her sleeve.

“Now I know how it feels to see my enemy so distracted that he doesn’t see the real danger is right in front of him.” He told him as Felicity stabbed her father in the neck with the arrow.

“That’s for what you did to me.”

Slade dropped the sword and Felicity grabbed Thea and pulled her away from Slade. Sara shot the man holding Laurel and another assassin knocked out the man holding Moira. Felicity ran off to find her mother, knowing Sara could keep an eye on things.

Oliver and Slade began to fight, but without the serum, they were more evenly matched.  They wound up on the roof and after fighting for a while, Oliver fired an ensnarement arrow at Slade, restraining him against the column. He radioed Waller, telling her it was over and that Slade had been taken down.

Oliver went to find his mother and sister, knowing he needed to explain a few things to them. After a very long explanation, ARGUS arrived. They went to the roof to bring Slade in, only to find him gone. Slade had cut himself loose from the restraints. He made his way back to his base and convinced Donna to leave with him. Donna left Felicity a note saying she was safe.

 

A little after dawn, Sara, John, Oliver and Roy were sitting around the foundry. They weren’t sure what to do now that Slade had been stopped and the city had been saved. Digg was about to ask where Felicity was when the door at the top of the stairs opened. Felicity slowly walked down the stairs and saw them. She wasn’t sure where to start, so she just started talking.

“So, Slade’s gone. He took my mom and left.”

“We know.”

“I know I owe you all about a thousand explanations. You’re probably wondering what stuff was me and what stuff was the Mirakuru.”

“It’s kinda easy to sort those things out.” Oliver said.

“Still, I owe you that much, but I can’t do that right now.” She said. “I’m leaving town for a little bit. I need to- I hurt people, I killed people, and I- there are some things I need to figure out.”

She said her goodbyes and left. As she packed for her trip, paid for with the money she’d stolen from Slade, Isabel and Blood, she tried to ignore the fact that she still didn’t feel normal. Her hallucinations might be gone, but she could still feel the strength of Mirakuru rushing through her veins. She thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye and looked up.

She looked into the mirror in front of her bed. Ravager stared back at her with a grin. She blinked rapidly. When she looked back at the mirror, Ravager was gone and her own reflection stared back at her once more.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade's been stopped, now what?

Felicity sat on the beach, staring out at the water. This place was so calm, so peaceful, she could almost forget why she was there. Looking out at the horizon, she almost felt like she wasn’t running away from her problems for a little bit.

She was pulled out of her reverie when she felt someone sit down beside her. She turned her head and saw Oliver. He was wearing shorts and T-shirt rather than a swimsuit like Felicity and put his towel down beside hers. He didn’t say anything when he sat down, deciding to let Felicity start if and when she was ready. He was also trying not to stare at Felicity. It was difficult, considering how good she looked in the red bikini she was wearing.

“Hey.” She said, starting off.

“Hi.”

“I’m glad you decided to come with me.” She told him. She was a little surprised when, as she was packing, Oliver showed up at her apartment and asked if he could come with her.

“Everyone needs a vacation, even billionaire vigilantes. Or, former billionaires I guess.” He joked before his tone turned serious. “And I didn’t think you should be alone.”

“Why not? It’s what I deserve.”

“No, it’s not. What happened, it wasn’t you. It was the Mirakuru.”

“It wasn’t all the Mirakuru though. It just made my anger worse and got rid of my impulse control. It didn’t make me kill Blood, I wanted to. I killed people Oliver. I cut off some guys head!”

“And I know better than anyone how it feels trying to cope with that.” He told her. “I didn’t want you to be alone because I didn’t want the guilt to consume you.”

“Again, its what I deserve.” She told him. “And the Mirakuru didn’t stop me from telling you that I had the Mirakuru. That was all me.”

“Let’s agree to disagree on that one. We’re supposed to be relaxing.” he said. “Why Bali?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “We didn’t go on vacation very often when I was growing up. When we did, we went to Lake Tahoe. I always wanted to go somewhere tropical, and since I have the money to do it-“

“How did you manage to afford this?” Oliver asked out of curiosity. She didn’t have a job, thanks to Isabel, and he didn’t think she’d been saving up for a trip like this either.

“So, when I was….Not-Me, I wasn’t loyal to my dad. I sided with him and helped him during his Get-Starling-Blown-Up plot because I was furious at you. My mental state didn’t help things. Anyway, I didn’t take it very well when Isabel decided to fire and humiliate me. So, I hacked her bank accounts, my dad’s and Blood’s campaign fund and drained them.”

“You helped him because you were mad at me?”

“Look, I wasn’t exactly in a good mental state at the time. I blamed you for things that weren’t completely your fault. You were being, and had been, a hypocrite in regards to certain things. And I wasn’t just angry, I was closer to murderous.” She defended. “Don’t try to downplay it as me being overly emotional or hypersensitive.”

“Hey, I wasn’t- I didn’t mean to make it sound like I was accusing you or anything. I was just- I didn’t understand why.”

“I wasn’t in a good place. And he used it to his advantage.” She said. “Can we impose a rule where we don’t talk about the siege or whatever they’re calling it?”

“Fine by me.”

Oliver and Felicity stayed in Bali for two weeks. Oliver had to return to Starling after that to deal with the fallout from QC and criminals running amok after Slade’s attack. He warned Felicity that ARGUS was probably watching her, hoping she’d lead them to her father.

After Bali, Felicity went to New Zealand. She’d always wanted to see where they filmed _The Lord of the Rings_. She stayed for a while before moving on to the next place she’d always wanted to visit.

She ran into her parents in Paris, which was a little awkward. Donna seemed to be way less angry at Slade, but there was definite coldness between father and daughter. Her mom talked her into meeting them for dinner that night.

“Felicity.”

“Slade.”

“You can just call me Dad.”

“Yeah, I guess I could.” She shot back.

“Can you two please not cause a scene?” Donna asked. “People are starting to stare.”

“Sorry, mom. I’m still a little upset about what he did.” She said.

“Well, you’re denting the table.” Her mother pointed out. After being cured, it became clear to Felicity that the cure only affected her mental state. She still had the strength, stamina and durability the serum provided without the drawback of losing her mind. She was too afraid of Slade trying to destroy her life again to ask him if he was experiencing the same thing.

“I’m not exactly thrilled with your behavior either.” Slade pointed out. “Betrayed by my own daughter.”

“I betrayed you? Really?” Felicity hissed before standing up. “I’m sorry, Mom. I can’t do this.” She said before leaving the restaurant.

She left Paris, and France all together, as soon as she possibly could.

After two and a half months abroad, Felicity decided she missed the US. She flew back to Washington and started renting a loft in Coast City. She wasn’t ready to go back to Starling yet, or see the team, but she wanted to be close just in case. She told herself if the situation in Starling became bad, again, she’d return as soon as she needed to and help. She wasn’t sure how much of that was a lie.

She had been living in Coast City for about a month when she started to get bored. To try and alleviate the boredom, she got a job at a computer repair shop. This way she was busy and got to work with computer like she wanted. She was closing the shop down for the day when a customer came in. She told him they were closed and he needed to come back tomorrow.

“I’m not here for computer repair.” The man said. “My name is Ray Palmer.”

“Yes, I know who you are.”

“Good, then I don’t have to give the elevator speech.” He joked.

“What can I do for you?”

“I need your help with something. A project I’ve been working on.”


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity returns to Starling, tries to mend bridges and tragedy strikes.

Somehow, Ray Palmer talked Felicity into coming back to Starling. He’d bought Queen Consolidated over the last few months and wanted to hire Felicity to work for him. She turned him down the first few times. She didn’t need the money and QC had bad memories for her because of Isabel. She turned down him down, but then he kept coming back to her job and increasing his offer.

She eventually relented, not because he wore her down, but because she was tired of avoiding Starling because of the siege. Lyla and Digg’s child was going to be coming any day now and she wanted to be there, even if she had some explaining to do. She was also growing worried that Oliver and Moira hadn’t heard from Thea since the siege ended. Thea was still responding to Oliver’s texts, but never said anything about coming home soon or where she was. The radio silence was starting to wear on Oliver, which in turn worried Felicity.

So, Felicity accepted Ray’s offer and got everything in order to move back to Starling. She was just starting to unpack when there was a knock on her door. Curious, she went over to open it and saw Oliver standing there, holding a bag of take-out.

“Hey.”

“Hi. How’d you know I was back?”

“I kinda- I called your home security company and told them to call me when your alarm was tripped while you were gone. Just in case. They called and told me it went off today, but the code was entered. I was hoping it was you and that this meant you were back, so-“ he shrugged. “I came over to help you move back in and brought food.”

“Normally, the person moving in pays for the food.”

“When are our lives anything close to normal?”

“I can’t argue with that. I don’t need much help though. I’m already mostly unpacked.” She said.

“Well, you can always tell me about the rest of your trip.”

“I spent the last month in Coast City, trying to work up the courage to come home.” She said. “Before that I was in Europe. I kinda- I crossed paths with my parents in Paris. It didn’t go very well.”

“You did? What happened?”

“I hate my dad. My dad views me curing him as this huge betrayal. Kinda hard to have a civilized conversation, let alone meal, in that situation.” She said. “Any- you’ve been here, I wasn’t. How pissed are they? Digg, Roy and Sara I mean.”

“Sara left while we were in Bali, but based on the last conversation we had, she seemed to understand. I don’t know about Digg or Roy. We haven’t talked about it, but I don’t think they’re upset.” He hoped he was reassuring her.

She wanted to get the awkward conversations over with, so as soon as they were done eating, Felicity and Oliver headed to the foundry. Digg and Roy were already there when they arrived. No one was really sure what to say once Felicity entered the room.

She walked over to her desk chair and took a seat. “So, um, we should talk. about Ravager, the siege, everything.”

“You don’t have to-.”

“Yes, I do. I owe you guys that much.” She said. “I just- I don’t know what to say. Imagine how rare that is for me. Not knowing what to say.”

“Say whatever comes to mind.”

“There were- for most of what happened, I didn’t know I was- I was her. Ravager.” She admitted. “It was kinda a Jekyll and Hyde situation. I was Felicity Smoak or I was Ravager, under the Mirakuru’s influence, and I didn’t remember as Felicity what she would do.”

“What happened to change it?” Digg asked. “You said for most of it you didn’t know what you were doing.”

“Sebastian Blood happened. He- she knew he was working with Slade, and there was this phrase he’d always say. He said it to Oliver when I was within earshot as Felicity. I heard that and things all came rushing back.”

“It was you, wasn’t it? You were the one that attacked him.”

“Yup. I beat him and rushed home to deal with all of the memories I was no longer suppressing.”

“Okay, so you learned you had Mirakuru. Why didn’t you tell us? We would’ve- would've helped you, like we helped Roy.”

“In fairness, you weren’t all that helpful.” She remarked. “And I- my hallucination convinced me not to.”

“You were hallucinating?” Roy asked. He’d been angry all the time, but he hadn’t at any point hallucinate. According to ARGUS’s files, none of the others did either.

“That didn’t happen to you?” Felicity asked. “My dad saw Shado, and then later my mom. I saw, well, I saw me but she was me from about four years ago. Anyway, she told me not to say anything about having the serum. At first because of how you reacted to Slade being my dad. Then, because if I had admitted it, it meant I knew about my dad’s plans, which I sometimes did, and you’d hate me.”

“You were scared.”

“And angry. At everyone, but as time wore on, my anger at you outweighed my anger at Slade which made it easier for him to manipulate me.” she said. “It wasn’t until Slade took my mom that I sided with him, and that was because you made me feel like crap for wanting my mom to be safe. Before that, I wanted to stop my dad and Ravager just wanted everyone to leave her alone.”

There still were a lot of questions that needed answering and apologies she had to make, but this was a good start. The team was about to leave on patrol when Digg got a call. Lyla was in labor. Oliver and Roy stopped the terrorists wanting to blow up Rockets arena before everyone went to Starling General to see Lyla.

The next day, Felicity, Oliver and Roy walked into the foundry. Laurel was crying on one of the steps. Sara’s dead body was laid out on a table.

“Time to sharpen those swords you haven’t told Robin Hood about.” Goth Felicity said with a smirk from next to Felicity.

“Oh no.”


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the wake of Sara's death, a blast from Felicity's past resurfaces.

Felicity, Oliver and Roy walked into the foundry. John was still at the hospital with Lyla and their newborn daughter. Laurel was crying on one of the steps. Sara’s dead body was laid out on a table.

“Time to sharpen those swords you haven’t told Robin Hood about.” Goth Felicity said with a smirk from next to Felicity.

“Oh no.” Goth Felicity could only mean one thing: she wasn’t cured. The effect of the serum was only lessened, not removed from her system. That alone terrified her. On top of that Sara, her friend, Oliver’s Sara, was dead. “Oh my god, Sara.”

Laurel was off to the side, crying about how it wasn’t fair. How they’d just gotten her back. Oliver was comforting her, while Roy stood there, unsure what to do. Felicity could understand how she felt, why that was the only thing she could think of saying. Her hallucination wasn’t so nice.

“Really? ‘It’s not fair’? That’s the best she can come up with?” Goth Felicity said. “For someone who was so angry Sara was alive, I expected as much anger at her death. I guess she wasted all of it on her first death.”

While Oliver was comforting Laurel, Felicity walked over to Sara and closed her eyelids. It was all she could do for right now not to throw something or start screaming.

Eventually, Laurel went home and Oliver headed out to the spot where Sara died. Roy and Felicity stayed behind to clean up Sara’s body until they could figure out what to do with it. In the middle of cataloging her things, Felicity got a call from Ray. Today was supposed to be her first day in her new position.

“I’m sorry, I can’t come in today.”

“Felicity, I’m a pretty smart guy. I know you weren’t crazy about this job. If you’ve changed your mind, just tell me.” He responded.

“Wow. He has really sucky timing.” Goth Felicity said, rolling her eyes.

“No, I’m- there’s been a death in the family and I-.” She said. “I can’t.”

“Oh, I- I’m sorry for your loss. Don’t- you can start in a few days, or even next week if you need to.”

“Oh, he feels like an asshole now. Good.” The hallucination said.

“I- can I call you back? Right now isn’t-.”

“Sure. I’m sorry.” Ray repeated before hanging up the phone.

 

Oliver came back from seeing the roof where Sara was killed. The only thing he’d been able to work out was that the person who killed her was a skilled archer. There weren’t very many people who used a bow and arrow in this day and age. At the same time, Captain Lance had reached out to the team, telling them an archer had started killing people around town. Needless to say, everyone believed the two events to be connected.

Thanks to Lyla, Felicity was able to search through ARGUS’s database and find the identity of their mysterious archer, Simon Lacroix. After reading his file, she used some creative phone pinging to figure out where in the city he was and lead Oliver to him. He started to battle against Lacroix but the man got a lucky hit in and shot Oliver off of his bike and escaped. An angry Oliver returned to the lair, wanting to find Lacroix as fast as possible and question him about Sara’s death. Felicity was trying to figure out what the victims all had in common. He yelled at Felicity when her complicated search algorithm didn’t run fast enough for him, which led to her yelling right back at him about how she can’t make it work any faster.

“I need you’re A-game.”

“Well, I don’t have it, ok? My friend, our friend, is dead. She was shot with arrows and fell off of a roof. Her body’s upstairs in a freezer because we don’t know what to do with it.” She pointed out. “Excuse me for not being at 100% right now.”

“I get that but-“

“Don’t. Just- don’t, okay?”

“Do you think if you hit him over the head with something really heavy, it’ll help him come to his senses?” Goth Felicity asked from the corner. “He knows he’s allowed to mourn her right? Everyone else is, even me and I didn’t like her all that much.”

Felicity’s searches finally yielded a result. All of the victims had a connection to a company trying to build an oil pipeline in Qurac and had been paid a large sum by said company. Sara happened to have worked in Qurac during her time with the League, which meant she might’ve taken her work home with her. Felicity was able to ID the person who authorized the payments, Tom Weston, Lacroix’s most likely next target. Laurel overheard this and left on her own, while Oliver and Roy suited up to confront the other archer.

They were able to stop Lacroix from killing Weston, or Ray Palmer who he’d also been sent to kill. While he and Oliver were in a stand-off, Laurel arrived and tried to shoot him, convinced he’d killed Sara. Oliver tried to talk her down.

“I have stood where you are right now; where you're so consumed with rage you can hardly breathe, and you think that taking revenge will make it better, but Laurel... it won't. It only makes it worse.”

“No, he murdered Sara!”

“Who's Sara?” Lacroix asked.

“My sister, you son of a bitch! Two nights ago, you put an arrow in her chest.”

“Two nights ago I was drunk in Bludhaven.”

“You're lying.”

“I'm proud of my work. I wouldn't deny it.”

“Even with a gun in your face?” She asked before pulling the trigger. Nothing happened, because the gun wasn’t loaded. Sirens began to blare and they fled.

They went back to the foundry, where Felicity was checking Lacroix’s story. “His alibi checks out. Two murders in Bludhaven, same MO. Same night Sara was killed.”

“Laurel... the trail's run cold.” Oliver said. “I’m gonna find whoever did this, I promise, but I don’t know when.” He went on to try and convince Laurel to tell her father the truth.

Felicity was sitting two feet away from them while they talked, but she zoned out after Oliver had said he couldn’t find Sara’s killer. The longer she thought about his words, the angrier she got. Lacroix was only the first suspect they had, and he was already giving up. He didn’t solve her murder within the first two days, and now he just wasn’t going to? That didn’t sit well with her, at all.

Felicity excused herself and went home. She shouldn’t be around anyone else right now. She took a shower, trying to clear her head. When she stepped out and looked into the mirror, Ravager was staring back at her.

“Oh great, you’re back too.”

“I never left.” Ravager said. “I think its time we had some fun.”

She tried to fight it, but Felicity could feel her Ravager persona take over. Her anger and her grief out her in a bad place but Oliver’s attitude after Lacroix turned out to be innocent pushed her over the edge. She knew Ravager’s idea of fun would get people killed, but was too exhausted to care at the moment.

“That’s so much better.” She remarked with a smirk. She walked into her guest bedroom and pulled a long metal case out from under the bed. Opening it, she found her swords, guns and the armor she wore as Ravager sitting inside.

Oliver and Roy tried to find out what happened to Sara and failed. She wasn’t going to. She was going to find the person who killed her friend and make them pay, regardless of how many people she had to go through to do it.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity starts her own crusade while the team remains in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a reminder, Moira didn't get killed by Slade in this story.

About a week after the siege ended, Moira’s lawyer miraculously found documents proving that the mansion wasn’t actually company property, allowing them to keep the house. Isabel had kept those documents hidden on purpose as part of her revenge and in an attempt to discourage Oliver from even trying to fight back. When Oliver returned from his trip to Bali, he also found around ten million dollars sitting in his bank account. It wasn’t the level of wealth he’d grown up with, but certainly enough to live on.

Oliver returned to the mansion after telling Laurel he hadn’t found Sara’s killer but wasn’t going to give up trying. He went home, only to find his mother sitting in the living room waiting for him.

“I think its time that we talk.”

“Talk? About what?”

“You’re the Arrow, which means you were also the Hood. And we really need to discuss that.”

“I don’t think we do.”

“Yes, we do. The Hood came after me and I shot him. I shot my own son.” Moira emphasized.

“You were scared and trying to defend yourself. And I couldn’t ask you questions as your son Oliver.”

“Fine. What about when you and I were both kidnapped by the Hood? Your partner, Mr. Diggle I’m guessing, beat you. Led me to think you were being tortured all so that you could gain information. I’d like an explanation for that.”

“Between when you shot me and when that happened, we realized there was something going on. We knew the list I was working with wasn’t just a random list of names. We knew something was up and we needed to find out what. He pulled his punches and I’m pretty good at acting. We got the information we needed, so I didn’t think too much about it afterwards.”

“How did you even have the List?” Moira asked. “We- the people involved in the Undertaking knew you were targeting the list, but we never learned how you knew the names.”

“Dad.” He admitted. “He didn’t- he didn’t drown, he made it to the life raft but he died before I reached the island. I- when I buried him, I found the notebook in his pocket. He’d said something about me righting his wrongs, and I thought the list was the way to do it. He was right.” He shot his mother a look. “If you wanna be angry at me for tricking you or for trying to keep my promise, go ahead.”

“I’m not angry, I- you did something I couldn’t, something your father couldn’t. You saved this city. I couldn’t be prouder of you.”

 

While Oliver was talking to his mother, Ravager was searching the city. Someone had to have seen Sara’s death. Someone had to know what happened and she was going to get to the bottom of it one way or another.

She was standing on the rooftop adjacent to the building where Sara was killed when she heard a scream. She jumped down from the roof and ran towards the noise. A man had backed a woman into the wall and was demanding she hand over her purse.

“Gimme the bag!”

The woman seemed terrified so Felicity stepped in. “I just love a big, strong man not afraid to be a little bad.” The mugger turned away from the woman and walked towards Felicity. “Go easy on me. I’m new at this.” The man moved to attack and Felicity kicked him in the face. The movement gave her an idea. “Maybe I should add some stilettos to this outfit.” She knocked the man out and turned to the woman.

The woman let out a sigh of relief and started to speak. “Thanks-“

She took a few steps towards her, trapping her against the wall. “You make it so easy, don’t you? Always waiting for someone else to save you. Like the Arrow, the city’s hero. What happens when he isn’t there anymore?” She asked. “It’s pathetic.”

She spun on her heels and sauntered away from the frightened woman. It sickened her how many people in this city didn’t know how to defend themselves. If Felicity had been able to defend herself, maybe Cooper wouldn’t have been able to kidnap her and she wouldn’t have become like Ravager. Were people naïve and believed that no one would ever hurt them or did they just assume someone else would rush in and save them?

She returned to searching for answers about Sara’s death. From her working with the Arrow, she knew what gangs operated in which parts of town and where they liked to hide. She cornered a drug dealer she knew worked in the area where Sara was killed and started questioning him.

“Three nights ago, what did you see?” She asked as she hit him.

“I didn’t see nothin’.”

“Don’t lie to me.” She growled as she hit him again. “What did you see?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“You sure about that?” She asked as she unsheathed one of her swords. “Because I have a lot of time and you have a lot of places I can hurt you.”

“What do you want to know?” He asked. She smirked.

The next evening, when Oliver arrived at the foundry to get ready for patrol, he received a call from Lance. “There’s another psycho running wild in the city.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Two gang members and a drug dealer wound up at the hospital last night. Said they were attacked by a psycho in a mask wanting answers.”

“Answers about what?”

“They aren’t saying. I’d guess this was a gang war, but these groups aren’t at odds with each other and no one’s stupid enough to start one right now.”

Felicity sat at her computer and smirked. She hadn’t found answers about Sara’s death yet, but some of the people she talked to had given her names. Names of people she’d be paying a visit to very soon.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity butt heads, Felicity does her own investigating and a few familiar faces return to Starling.

Oliver’s search into Sara’s killer and the mysterious new criminal running around Starling was put on hold when Felicity finally managed to locate Thea. She turned out to be in Corto Maltese. He, John and Roy flew there to try and talk her into coming home. She refused at first, and while Oliver was thinking of another approach, Digg mentioned Waller called him about an ARGUS rogue who had stolen a bunch of intel. They prevented Shaw for selling the information on the black market. In a last-ditch attempt to convince Thea to come home, Oliver told her the truth about Robert’s death.

Thea landed in Starling and had an awkward reunion with her mother. Oliver and the rest of the team, meanwhile, had to deal with an angry Lance. Over the last few days, Ravager continued looking into Sara’s death. No one had been killed yet, but every person Felicity questioned about what happened that night wound up in the hospital. Lance had asked the Arrow to try and take down the person responsible for these attacks, but so far there hadn’t been much success.

The lack of progress was starting to annoy Oliver. “So, there’s nothing? No security footage, no connection between these people. Nothing?” He asked Felicity.

“No. All of these attacks are happening in areas with no cameras and where there won’t be witnesses.” She answered. “We have no leads, no clues, nothing. Just like Sara’s death.” She added that last part bitterly.

“Something you wanna say?”

“You don’t wanna hear it.” She remarked, turning back to her computer. “’Actually, yes. Two days. You gave up finding out what happened after two days.”

“I didn’t give up, I- the trail’s gone cold.”

“Has it gone cold or have you just stopped looking? Since Laurel tried and failed to kill Lacroix, what’ve you done? Have you done anything to try and figure out what happened?”

“Where’s this coming from?” He asked her.

“Someone killed my friend. It’s coming from me wanting to know why and what happened.” She said before standing up. “I need some air.” She didn’t return to the lair for the rest of the night.

 

Felicity had just finished questioning a thief in the Glades about the night Sara died when she heard someone come up behind her. Unsheathing her sword, she spun around to face the person.

“What are you here for a rematch?” She asked sarcastically.

“Such a statement would imply we were equally matched.”

“Last time we fought, I was in a rush and I broke your nose.” Felicity pointed out to Nyssa. “If you wanna repeat, I can break a whole lot more than your nose.”

“I’m not here to fight. The blonde woman I fought alongside when we last met, have you seen her?” Nyssa asked.

“The one in the black leather outfit?”

“Yes. She was the only blonde woman with me.”

Felicity Smoak would’ve answered the question directly and told her about Sara’s death. Unfortunately, Nyssa was dealing with Ravager, who liked screwing with people. Especially those she didn’t like. “I don’t think I’m the one you should be asking. I thought she and the Robin Hood knock-off were a thing.” She responded. “But to answer your question. No.”

Nyssa didn’t speak and walked off. Felicity suspected she was heading to the foundry to confront Oliver. She shrugged any concern she had off. He wasn’t looking for her killer, which meant any confrontation that was about to happen was his fault. He should’ve known Nyssa or someone else from the League would come looking for her sooner or later.

She left the thief she’d been questioning moaning on the pavement and walked away. She wasn’t sure where she was heading when she turned a corner and saw a woman come out of the shadows and sneak up behind a man getting into his car. The woman was wielding a baseball bat. She swung it at the man’s head.

“I hear you liked to hit women. How about one that likes to hit back?”

Felicity knew that voice. It was Laurel.

“Oh god, seriously?” Goth Felicity asked with an eye roll. “She does know that just because her sister could kick ass, it doesn’t mean she can, right?”

Felicity stayed hidden as the man took the bat from Laurel, punched her several times in the face and then kicked her in the ribs before getting in his car to drive off. Before he could put the car into gear, however, someone punched through his window. Felicity reached into the car and slammed his face against the steering wheel a few times. “You know, that wasn’t very nice.” She said as she dragged him out of the car. She hit him a few more times before he lost consciousness before turning to Laurel.

“What you did, or tried to do, was pretty dumb.” Felicity said, still standing in the shadows. Thankfully, the alleyway was very dark, so Laurel couldn’t see the mask she was wearing and recognize it from the siege a few months ago. “But I think the ass-kicking you just got was punishment enough. And you’d probably just use it as another excuse to self-destruct. Like you did when you got Tommy killed, just like after Blood used you as a puppet and then cut your strings. Wow, you really know how to pick ‘em, don’t you? Why don’t you keep your fighting in the court room and leave the riff-raff to those of us who can handle it?”

“You could train me.”

“I could, but I won’t.” Felicity answered. “I’d go to the hospital if I were you. Or cry into a bottle, its what you’re good at. Wouldn’t want the assistant district attorney to be found beaten up in a place like this. People might start to wonder what you’re up to.” She waltzed away.

If she ran into Laurel again while out looking for answers, she’d fight her, but Felicity didn’t see the point in hitting her when she was already down.

Oliver had just turned down training Laurel when his phone rang. It was Lance. “That psycho I told you about, are you gonna do anything about him?”

“We’re working on it. Why?”

“Because whoever this guy is, he’s getting more dangerous. Ambulance just brought in this petty thief I’ve arrested once or twice. Kid’s got three broken bones and the doc’s worried about internal bleeding.”

“Has he been able to tell you anything? Have any of them?”

“I’m a cop. Of course not.”

“We’re gonna find him.” Oliver promised him as he went downstairs. He and Roy discussed Thea’s strange behavior in Corto Maltese when they both spun around because they heard someone approaching.

“Where is she?” Nyssa asked as she nocked an arrow and pointed it at them both. “Where is Sara? She came here for the League two weeks ago. We haven’t heard from her since.”

“There’s something I have to tell you.”


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nyssa seeks revenge and Ravager continues looking for answers.

“Where is she?” Nyssa asked as she nocked an arrow and pointed it at Oliver and Roy. “Where is Sara? She came here for the League two weeks ago. We haven’t heard from her since.”

“There’s something I have to tell you.” Oliver said.

He didn’t need to say anything more than that, as Nyssa lowered the bow and spoke. “Sara’s dead? It was an arrow, wasn’t it?”

“How do you know that?”

“Where’s her body?”

“Nyssa-“

“Where?!”

“We buried her in her grave from seven years ago.” Oliver admitted. Nyssa turned and left the lair.

Oliver asked Roy to shadow Nyssa and see where she went. He called Oliver hours later when she’d gone to an abandoned building that he thought was a League safehouse. When he showed up there, he learned that Sara was in Starling chasing down a lead that Malcolm Merlyn was alive. They went back to the Arrow Cave.

Felicity wasn’t answering her phone, but John and Roy were there and Oliver told them about Sara’s mission in Starling and the fact that Malcolm Merlyn was alive. He was surprised to learn from Nyssa that Moira knew Merlyn was alive and didn’t think to tell him. She was upset with him for keeping secrets, but once again, did the exact same.

Oliver called Laurel and asked for her help to find out what Sara and Lance talked about before her death. She was able to figure out what Sara’s next step was, which she passed on to Oliver and the team.

 

While the team was hunting Malcolm, Felicity was hunting for answers. There were plenty of lowlifes out and about when Sara died. One of them had to have seen something. Someone had to know what happened. she wasn’t going to stop until she found out everything she could about Sara’s death.

“For the last time, I don’t know anything!” The man Felicity was questioning yelled.

“I think you do.” She countered as she hit him again. “What did you see?”

“Fuck off!”

“Fine.” She said as she took out her sword. “If you wanna make this difficult, we can make this difficult.” She pointed the blade at him. “I’m gonna ask one last time before I start using this. What did you see?”

 

Nyssa and the team tried twice to catch Malcolm and question him about Sara, but he evaded them both times. After the second attempt, he called Oliver wanting to meet in public. Oliver went and Malcolm admitted to seeing Thea the night of the siege, before Slade’s men took her, but claimed he hadn’t seen her since. He also swore that he didn’t have anything to do with Sara’s death, swearing on Thea’s life.

He went to check on Thea, wondering how much of what Malcolm told him was true. Thea claimed a random citizen had helped her during the siege before Slade kidnapped her. He told her Malcolm was alive and asked her how she was. She gave him a meaningless answer of ‘fine’ before he got a text from John and left.

After learning who Thea’s biological father was, Nyssa kidnapped Thea to sue her as bait to draw Malcolm out. The tactic worked, but Oliver showed up as well and stopped Nyssa from killing Malcolm. They all returned to the foundry, where Nyssa attacked Oliver for stopping her. He told her that Malcolm didn’t kill Sara and insisted no one touch Malcolm while he remained in Starling.

Nyssa told him he was making a big mistake, and a powerful enemy, before storming out, right past Felicity.

“Ok what did I miss?” She pointed at Nyssa’s retreating figure.

“Merlyn’s alive. Nyssa thought he killed Sara, but he didn’t.” Digg summarized.

“How do you know that?”

“He said he didn’t kill her.” Oliver said.

“Ok, and? Any person can lie and Merlyn’s guilty of way worse than just lying.”

“He swore, on Thea’s life.” The archer elaborated.

“Ah, there it is. That blindspot he has where his family is concerned.” Goth Felicity said from the corner. “I was wondering where that went.”

“I’ll say it again. Ok, and? You do remember Merlyn’s a manipulative sociopath, right?” Felicity pointed out. “Maybe he didn’t kill her. Or maybe he knows that if he plays the Thea card, you’ll believe him and he gets what he wants.”

“The ‘Thea card’?”

“Your blindspot for your family is about a mile wide. And everybody knows it. Let’s also not forget that, until what six months ago, he didn’t even know Thea was his. So, him loving her as much as you do is unlikely. And his ‘I swear on her life’ schtick is meaningless as a result.”

“When did you become so cynical?” Laurel, whose presence she’d forgotten about, said.

“Let’s just say I’ve been the Thea in this situation.” Felicity responded. “You probably just blew the best chance we’d ever have to kill Malcolm Merlyn. Because even if he didn’t kill Sara, he did kill Tommy and 502 other people.”

Oliver was going to respond, but then Lance called him. The masked person attacking criminals in the city had struck again. “We’re working on finding them.”

“Well, you need to work harder. The guy that was attacked tonight’s in coma. They don’t know if he’s ever gonna wake up.” Lance told him.

“Do you have any more evidence?”

“Based on the last two victims, they’ve gotta be pretty strong. They punched through a car windshield pretty easily. All the victims we’ve talked to claim the person beat them with their bare hands, but the injuries look like someone took a sledgehammer to their torsos. Tonight’s victim had a few dozen cuts in addition to being beaten senselss.”

“No one’s that strong.” Oliver said. He promised to increase his focus on finding the mystery man before hanging up.

“Sounds an awful lot like a woman I ran into three days ago.” Laurel said off-handedly.

“In what way?”

“I watched her punch through a car window and drag a guy out of the car. She beat him unconscious and then just sauntered away.”

“And you didn’t stop her?”

“The man had just kicked my ass and she started spewing insults at me.” Laurel said. “She seemed like Sara, but more violent.”

“What do you remember about her?” Oliver asked.

While Laurel was talking, Felicity snuck out of the lair. She decided to wait before acting on the information that Malcolm was alive. First, she needed to follow up on the lead she got from the last person she interrogated. He’d told her about a bar in the Glades where other people like him hung out.

Felicity went back to her house and changed into something less innocent-looking. She put on a leather jacket, a pair of skinny jeans, stilettos and styled her hair to look rougher around the edges. She brought her mask but thought her armor would draw too many eyes. Thankfully, she was able to hide most of her weapons, except for her swords, on her and headed towards the bar. 

She arrived at the bar and a bouncer tried to stop her. She knocked him out kept walking. The door was locked and only a guy on the inside would open it, so she kicked it down. It landed with a loud thud and the bar went silent. Every eye turned towards the exit. Felicity walked over the door, and the now unconscious doorman, and entered the bar. With everyone’s attention on her, she spoke.

“Three nights ago, the Canary, that woman dressed in all black, was killed not too far from here. I wanna know who did it.”

To her left, a man scoffed. “Yeah, sure, Barbie.”

Felicity strolled over to him. “What was that?”

“I said sure, Barbie. It’s adorable how you think you can scare us.” He taunted and saw her clench her teeth. “What’s the matter, you don’t like that name?”

Felicity grabbed his hand and held it in place. Using her other hand, she broke his pinky. He screamed and she broke another finger. “Am I still adorable now?” She broke another one. “How about now? Do you wanna tell me what I wanna know?” She broke another finger. “How about the rest of you?”

The other patrons started to look nervous, which made her grin. “Anyone wanna tell me what they know?”

It was amazing how much information she got just by breaking a few fingers.


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver starts to piece things together and Nyssa has an interesting conversation with someone.

Felicity left the bar with a brand new list of leads to follow and people to question. She realized there was a chance that some of the leads were fake or that they’d told her misleading information on purpose, but she didn’t care. If the intel turned out to be bad, she could simply return to the bar and exact her revenge.

“Already planning your revenge,” Goth Felicity whispered in her ear, “you really are your father’s child.”

“Shut up. You aren’t even real.”

 

After Laurel had described the woman she’d run into, she left the foundry. She was starting to think that maybe she should tell her father the truth about Sara. Oliver, meanwhile, thought about what Laurel had told him. The woman was blonde, she was physically strong and had a very bad attitude. Laurel wasn’t able to see her face or make out much in the darkness of the alley, but she thought the woman was wearing some kind of body armor. Blonde, mean and wearing Kevlar sounded an awful lot like Ravager, but nothing in Laurel’s description made him certain.

The timing was suspicious though. Every time an attack happened, Felicity hadn’t been in the foundry. She also seemed almost too calm about another maniac in the city. He considered that it could be her, but then thought it was ridiculous. Felicity had been cured. She didn’t have the Mirakuru any longer, her hallucinations stopped. Ravager was part of her past, wasn’t she?

He was going to call Felicity, just to talk and maybe poke around a little bit, but before he could do that, he got a call from his mother. Following Blood’s death, the city council decided to appoint Moira as mayor for the time being. Another election was being held next month, but based on the polls, she was expected to win.

Moira, as interim mayor, had just been told about the masked attacker in the city. She wanted to know why Oliver hadn’t mentioned anything. Oliver left to talk to her, since he had questions of his own. He arrived at the mansion and found his mother in the foyer.

“Is this masked attacker connected to you? When were you going to tell me?” She asked.

“When were you going to tell me Malcolm Merlyn was still alive?” He countered.

“What? How do-?”

“Or, better yet, when were you going to tell me that you knew he was alive and told the League of Assassins that information?” He continued.

“How do you know that?”

“Because they came here looking for him! Sara came here following the lead you gave them, and now she’s dead.” He told her. “Probably because of Malcolm. So, you don’t get to lecture me about keeping secrets.”

“I- Sara’s dead? Oliver, I’m so-“

“Don’t. Just- don’t.” He told her.

“I informed the League after I was acquitted, that’s when I became aware that he was alive. I didn’t tell you because I was trying to keep you and your sister safe.”

“Well, I don’t need your protection and maybe, just maybe, keeping so many secrets is why Thea disappeared to South America for five months.” He remarked. He loved his mother, he did, but he had a lot of issues with her and her tendency to keep secrets.

Moira took a deep breath. They could discuss Malcolm later. “The masked attacker who seems to be operating in the Glades.”

“What about them?”

“Do you know anything? Have any ideas who they might be? The city is panicking and looking to me for answers.”

“I’ve been aware it was happening for about a week. I don’t know much beyond that.” He said. “They seem to only be attacking criminals. I don’t know if they’re after something or just trying to follow my example.”

“I doubt he’s doing this because he wants to be a hero like you.” His mother said. “The attacks are getting worse. Three people are in ICU, a fourth is in a coma. And I just got a call that there was an attack at a less-than-reputable bar. This time, there were just two employees who were knocked out and one man who had every bone in both his hands broken. Of course, none of the witnesses saw anything.”

“We’re working on it, that’s all I can tell you. And its more than I should be telling you.”

 

Felicity was tracking down her first lead when she ran into Nyssa again. She was leaving a rundown apartment building when she noticed the assassins standing on a roof across the street. Rolling her eyes, Felicity made her way up to that same roof.

“I take it he told you. About the Canary.” She said, in lieu of a real greeting.

“Yes, he did. I wonder why you didn’t.”

“Would you have believed me? And even if you did believe me, I’m pretty sure you would’ve accused me of killing her and then tried to kill me.”

“Did you kill her?” Nyssa asked.

“No. I think we both know who most likely did. Just like we both know his ‘I swear it wasn’t me’ act is a crock of shit. A smart move, swearing on Thea Queen’s life, but utterly shallow.”

“How do you know he swore on her life?”

“Oops, just spilled the beans, didn’t you?” Felicity’s hallucination said.

“I decided to see how your little stand-off would play out.” She lied. “I’m kinda surprised none of you noticed me. Even more surprised you haven’t tracked him down already.”

“The Arrow has vowed no one can harm him in this city. He has decided to start a war he has no hope of winning. I’m about to leave to inform my father, but I wanted to speak to you first.”

“About what?”

“Days ago, I came across you attacking someone, seeking information. I don’t know if you’re aware, but I heard you ask about the night the Canary died.”

“Oh, I know. You aren’t the only one trying to solve her murder.” Felicity answered. “And since it doesn’t seem like Robin Hood’s priority….”

“Why? She was your enemy.”

“Actually, she wasn’t. We were on different sides during that siege, but I wasn’t really myself back then. Someone killed my friend, and I wanna find out who it was and why.”

“Best of luck.” Nyssa said before disappearing. She returned to Nanda Parbat and told Ra’s Merlyn was alive, Sara was dead and that Oliver refused to let the League kill Malcolm.

 The following night, John and Roy had already gone home when Felicity’s system picked something up off of the police scanner. Someone had called in a sighting of the person attacking criminals in the Glades. The sighting wasn’t far from Verdant, so Oliver put his suit back on and headed out. Using his parkour skills, Oliver ran along the rooftops and beat the police to the location. There, he found a man strung up with a smaller figure hitting him repeatedly.

The figure stopped and looked back towards the street. Seconds later, Oliver began to hear sirens. “We’re gonna have to cut this short.” She said and Oliver immediately recognized the voice.

She left the man strung up and fled the alley. Oliver moved down from the roof and followed her. About three blocks away from where he originally saw her, Oliver managed to surprise her. He fired an ensnarement arrow at her so she couldn’t run away as easily. With her restrained, Oliver removed her mask.

“Felicity? How-?”


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver learns something troubling and tries to talk Felicity down.

Oliver removed the mask from the mysterious woman’s face.

“Felicity? How-?”

With a grunt, Felicity flexed and broke through the chords restraining her. She rushed at Oliver, grabbing him by the throat. She pinned him against the wall. “Sorry, sweetie. Felicity Smoak isn’t here right now.”

“But- I don’t- how are you still here? The cure-“

“Guess it wasn’t much of a cure.” Ravager told him. “I’m sure Felicity could give you all the hows and whys, but I don’t know too much about it.” She shrugged. “Don’t care much either.” She let go of him and he slumped against the wall, rubbing his neck.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because you won’t. You won’t look for Sara’s killer. You won’t do anything about Malcolm. You don’t do anything, so I have to.”

“You’re attacking random people. You’ve out several in the hospital. What’s next? Are you gonna start killing people?”

“If that’s what it takes to find out what happened to Sara, yes.” She shouted. “She was your Sara, but she was my friend too.”

“I know you’re angry, but this isn’t the way and you know it.”

“What is this? Are you trying to get through to me or something? its not gonna work. When has it ever worked? Didn’t work with Nyssa, didn’t work with Sara, and it didn’t work with Helena. You’re zero for three, about to be zero for four.”

“This is different. You might wanna hurt people, but Felicity doesn’t.”

“Yes, she does. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have let me out, would she?” Ravager asked rhetorically. “I’m gonna go now. Stay out of my way.”

She walked off while Oliver stayed there, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. How did the cure not work? Why was Felicity taking things to such an extreme? Why did she seem to think he wasn’t doing anything about Sara’s death?

Ravager, having lost her lead on Sara’s killer, wound up back at home. She washed away all the blood and grime from a night of chasing down leads and soon Felicity found herself staring in the mirror.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re feeling bad about Robin Hood.” Ravager said from the mirror. “He’s in our way.”

“He’s my friend. He’s-“

“Yeah, you love him. You’re in love with him. We know. Why do you think I get all of those nice, grown-up feelings when I’m around him?” Ravager teased. Whenever Ravager was around Oliver, she got very horny, which was why Goth Felicity often reacted with glee when Oliver neglected to wear a shirt.

“Then why did you attack him?”

“He attacked us first. We’re the ones doing all the work and then he shows up and starts passing judgement? He was killing people when you met him, so he’s almost the last person who gets to pull the ‘there’s a better way’ card. And that crap about how this isn’t you? Has he not been paying attention? Or did he just choose to block it out?”

“We hurt him. I hurt him.” Felicity argued. “You- I’m done listening to you.”

“You can shove me into the back of your mind all you want, Lissy, but you can’t actually get rid of me.” Ravager warned before she vanished from the mirror, leaving Felicity staring at her reflection once more.

“She’s right.” Goth-Felicity said from behind her. “We never really go away.”

 

The next day, Felicity went to the foundry as usual. She needed to face the music and knew the longer she waited, the worse things could be. She was only a little bit surprised that Oliver seemed to be waiting for her and that the others weren’t there yet.

“So, Ravager’s back.” He said.

“She claims she never really left, but yes.”

“The cure didn’t work then.”

“It did, it just- it worked for Roy, it worked for the other people Slade injected, it just didn’t work for me. I don’t know if- maybe it was a different process or something. Maybe my serum was diluted. I don’t know, but it worked on me, just not in the way it was supposed to.”

“Then how did it work?”

“Not like a cure, it- my moods were all over the place. When Sara hit me with the cure, it made them level out. it didn’t cure me, it just stabilized me.” She said. “It’s almost like the cure acted like a permanent mood stabilizer or antipsychotic.”

“So, you were in balance because you were medicated. What happened to unbalance you?”

“Sara’s death put me on edge. Then, you gave up looking.”

“No, I-“

“Two days. Two days after she died, you stood right here and told Laurel the trail was cold. Sounds an awful lot like giving up to me. And then, you decided Malcolm was telling the truth on his word alone. Are you surprised I got angry enough for my mean roommate to resurface?”

“You could’ve killed someone. People are in the ICU. One’s in a coma.”

“Why are you saying that like I don’t already know? You aren’t gonna talk me out of finding out what happened.”

“Look, I’m not trying to talk you out of getting answers. I’m just- you don’t need to be so aggressive about it. Can you just try?”

“I won’t make any promises.” She said. She sighed and made a decision. “I don’t think I’m in the right headspace for this tonight. I’m not gonna go look for answers, but-“

“Ok.” He said. “I didn’t hurt you, did I? With the arrow, I mean.”

“No. I’d ask if me grabbing you by the neck hurt, but the bruise from my hand already answers that question.” She said. “And while Ravager isn’t sorry, I am.”

Felicity left Verdant and went home. She passed Digg on her way out and made up some excuse about not feeling well. She didn’t know what, if anything, Oliver would tell them about their conversation, but wasn’t going to tell him voluntarily.

At home, Felicity was listening to the police scanner, as had become a habit, when a call came over the radio.

“-unknown assailants fighting the Canary on Market Street. Advise caution.”

She knew exactly who it was and what they were doing. Market Street wasn’t too far from Felicity’s place. “Ok, seriously? Once wasn’t enough.” She scoffed as she grabbed her mask. Time to save Laurel’s ass, again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About yesterday's news: I have no idea what to say, because the news hasn't fully processed in my brain yet.


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ravager and Laurel face off, it doesn't go very well for one of them.

Felicity grabbed her mask, most of her guns and her sword and prepared herself for the fight she was about to get thrown into. A tiny part of her brain reminded her that she didn’t need to do this. Laurel was an adult, she wasn’t family, Felicity had no responsibility to jump in and save her ass from whatever trouble she’d gotten into now.

She didn’t have to go, but she wanted to. Laurel seemed to think that she was unstoppable, that she could do anything, but she was wrong. Just because she could handle herself in a courtroom didn’t mean she could handle herself on the streets. Some self-defense classes her father made her take weren’t going to be enough. Mostly, she wanted to save Laurel’s ass so she could rub it in her face later.

Felicity reached the corner she’d heard mentioned in the police broadcast. As she expected, she found Laurel, dressed in Sara’s black leather jacket and a ski mask, attempting to fight off two angry looking men. She wasn’t doing very well, and Felicity could see things going south quickly.

One of the men swung his arm out to hit Laurel in the face, but Felicity stepped in and stopped the motion mid-punch. “That’s not very nice.”

“Fuck being nice.” The man yelled. “Who the hell are you?”

“The woman’s that’s gonna beat your ass.” She punched him in the chest and he went flying backwards. He hit a brick wall behind him and collapsed. She could hear him groaning, so she knew he was still alive.

With Thug Number 1 dealt with, she turned her attention to Thug Number 2, who was busy fighting Laurel and hadn’t noticed his friend was out. She watched the two of them fight it out for a little while before getting annoyed. This fight was going on for long enough as is and she wanted to go home already. She had some Netflix to catch up on. She took one of her guns out of its holster and shot the second criminal in the shoulder.

“What the hell?” The man yelled as he turned around. “You shot me!”

“I know, I was there.”

“Look, my problem isn’t with you.”

“Does it look like I care?” She asked as she stalked closer to him. “Say night-night.”

“Why would I say nigh-“ He started to ask, but she hit him in the face knocking him out before he could finish.

Felicity rolled her eyes and turned to face Laurel. “I didn’t need your help.”

“Look, you wanna die, fine by me. But don’t drag the Canary’s legacy through the mud to do it.” She said.

“I had it handled.” Laurel insisted.

“Ok.” Felicity said before taking a swing at her. If she had it handled, then she shouldn’t have any issues holding her at bay in a fight. Felicity was careful not to use her superstrength, she wanted to win because she was a better fighter, not because she was stronger.

Laurel hadn’t been expecting the blow and reeled backwards. Felicity got another hit in before Laurel’s brain seemed to register what was happening. She tried to block Felicity’s next hit, but only did a mediocre job at blocking. They kept fighting, Laurel got a few weak hits in here and there, but the fight mostly consisted of Felicity kicking Laurel’s ass and Laurel trying and failing to defend herself.

Laurel swung her arm to try and hit Felicity in the face, but she saw that move coming, grabbed Laurel’s arm, and used the momentum to flip her onto her back. She hit the pavement with a thud. She was moving to get up when Felicity kicked her in the ribs. She kicked her again and again. Laurel stopped trying to get up, so Felicity bent over her and started hitting her in the face.

“Yeah, you totally had it handled.” She said sarcastically between punches. “Can’t even fight me off, but you could totally handle two armed criminals. You wanna die, just buy a gun and blow your brains out.”

She pulled her arm back for another punch. She was about to bring it down when a voice shouted in their direction. “Ravager, stop!”

“Stay out of this, Katniss. It’s not your concern.” Felicity said without turning around.

“Yes, it is. You don’t wanna hurt her.”

“If I didn’t want to hurt her, I wouldn’t be hurting her.”

‘Look, I know you’re angry. Mostly at me.” He said.

“This might come as a shock, but not everything’s about you. I’m not mad at you right now, I’m mad at her. I mad because I respected the Canary and some drunk thinks she can just take up the mantle and doesn’t care that she’s wrecking her legacy because it makes her feel better about herself.”

“I’m not-“ Laurel started to say.

“I’d be quiet if I were you. Yeah, he has a bow and arrow, but I can break your neck before he’d have time to use them.”

While Felicity was threatening Laurel, Oliver used the distraction to take out a tranq arrow. She turned back to address Oliver and he shot her with the arrow, knocking her out. “We need to go. The police are on their way.” He picked her up and started to walk away. “You should probably head home.”

“Wait, you aren’t seriously taking her with you.” Laurel said getting up from the ground. “Leave her here for the police to arrest along with them.” She pointed to the two men Felicity had knocked out.

“I’m not letting them arrest her.”

“Why? She tried to kill me.”

“It’s complicated. Go home Laurel.” He said as he carried Felicity away.

 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Donna asked as their private plane landed at Starling’s airport.

“You said you wanted to see Felicity.” Slade reminded her.

“Yes but- last time you two were in the same room didn’t go so well. And there might be some people in town who aren’t happy to see you.” She pointed out.

“It’s just a quick visit. No one will know I was here.”


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity deals with an unexpected guest.

Laurel tried to follow after Oliver, but he moved surprisingly fast considering he was carrying an unconscious woman in his arms. He rounded a corner, and Laurel was only a few steps behind him, but when she turned the corner, he was gone. Seeing he was gone, Laurel went home, thankful it was a Friday night, so she had two days for her injuries to heal.

As she was trying to relax, she thought back on what the other woman had said. Ravager spoke to her, and about her, like she knew Laurel. She had to know her, given her biting comments about Laurel’s addiction. She also had to know Sara, or at the very least, know the Canary and know that she was dead. She didn’t say that Laurel was ruining Sara’s reputation, she said she was ruining her legacy, which meant she had to know about Sara’s death. Who was behind that mask?

 

Oliver carried Felicity from the spot where he knocked her out to the foundry. He considered taking her home, but it didn’t feel right to be in her house when she was unconscious. He also wanted to talk to her and felt like the foundry was a better setting than her living room.

He laid Felicity out on one of the metal tables and removed her mask. She was still asleep, and he knew she’d probably jerk awake, so he removed his jacket and placed it under her head so that it was cushioned. By his estimate, which involved a lot of guesswork based on Felicity’s size and how her body absorbed medication, she should be coming to at any moment.

He was grabbing some bottles of water from the fridge when he heard a groan and knew she was awake. He rushed back over to her, wanting to assure her that she was safe.

“What the- you knocked me out.” She said once she realized where she was and started to remember what happened.

“In fairness, you were….not yourself.” He defended.

“Is she okay? I didn’t-“

“She’s banged up, a lot I’d bet, but she’s alive.” He said. “We shouldn’t probably talk about what happened.”

“I don’t think we do.” She said, moving off of the table.

“You beat her very badly. Way more than you needed to. You could’ve killed her.”

“The point wasn’t to kill her, it was to show her that she can’t just put on a black leather jacket and pretend to be Sara. I think she got the message.”

“Ok, we don’t have to talk about Laurel, but I still want to talk. Your- you can’t keep going like this. Every cop in the city is after you, everyone in the city is scared of you. This- if you keep doing this, going down this path, you’re gonna end up in Iron Heights, or worse. I know you wanna solve Sara’s murder, but I can’t just let you ruin your life to do it.”

“You could. It’s my life and you don’t owe me anything.” She deadpanned. “You haven’t for a while.”

“I do owe you, because you convinced me that there was a different way, a better way, to do things. I need to return the favor.” He said. “Please, let me help you.”

“’I’m not saying yes, but I’m not saying no either. Just- is that a good enough answer for now?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Looking forward to it.” She said in a tone that clearly implied that she wasn’t.

Felicity went home and walked into her house. She could feel that something was off, something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Aren’t you a little old to be sneaking in at this hour?” A voice said from her left. She slowly turned and saw her father standing there.

“Does it look like I’m sneaking in? One, its my house. Two, I wasn’t exactly trying to hide the fact that I was here. Three, what are you doing here?”

“Your mother said she missed you and that she wanted to see you.”

“She wanted to visit me, and you didn’t.” Felicity repeated. Her father might’ve ruined her life, but it still stung that he didn’t want to see her.

“Don’t put words in my mouth. We don’t agree on many things, but you’re still my daughter.”

“The one you experimented on. The one you turned into a killer. The one you supposedly love, but when you got off of the island, you didn’t even try to find. Imagine what that means to me.” She responded. “Two days. Mom can stay longer if she wants, but if you’re still here 48 hours and one second from now, I’m gonna inform Oliver and make a call to Captain Lance.”

Thankfully, Felicity had plans on Saturday, which meant she had an excuse to be away from her parents. They had breakfast together but then Felicity needed to leave to help Lyla get ready for her and John’s wedding that afternoon. Ray Palmer was going to be her plus one. The wedding went off without a hitch. The only way it could’ve been better was if Sara Diggle could’ve been involved, but as she was an infant, it wasn’t really an option.

At the reception, Oliver was talking to Digg while Felicity cooed over Sara when she felt both men freeze. “What the hell is he doing here?” John asked.

Felicity looked over to where they were staring and saw Slade standing there. The shock wore off and they turned to look at Felicity.

“Do you know him or something?” Ray asked Felicity as he saw her go completely pale before her face shifted into anger.

“Yeah, that’s my dad.” She said as she stormed over to him. Ray followed after her as Oliver and John argued about what to do. Neither wanted to engage Slade in a room full of people, but letting him escape again wasn’t an option.

“What are you doing here?” Felicity asked as soon as she was close enough to her father to question him without yelling.

“Your mother loves weddings.” He said with a shrug. He then turned to Ray. “Slade Wilson, and you are?”

“Ray Palmer. I’m Felicity’s….friend.”

“Nice to meet you, Ray.” He said, sticking his hand out. They shook hands and Slade squeezed his hand a little tighter than he needed to. “As her friend, there’s something you should know.”

“What might that be?”

“If you hurt my daughter, I will make you hurt in ways you didn’t know were possible.”

“Ray? Let’s go. Dad, go away.” Felicity said. “Digg’s probably already calling security.”

By security, she of course meant ARGUS. Felicity pulled Ray away and went back over to Oliver.

“You know, it’s a little early for threats I think.” Donna said, from next to him.

“Its never too early for threats. Especially against a man trying to sleep with my daughter.”

“If you say so.”

Slade watched Felicity approach Oliver and whisper something to him. He was beginning to think Felicity brought the wrong person over for him to threaten. They might not be dating, but clearly his daughter had feelings for his nemesis. He was smirking at Oliver’s inability to confront him here when someone walked over to Felicity. It was Donna. Donna, who he could still see to his left.

How could Donna be talking to Felicity and standing next to him at the same time? He turned his head slightly and saw Donna wearing a tight red dress next to him. Nothing like the flowy, blue dress she’d bought for the wedding.

“Miss me?” Donna, or rather his hallucination of Donna, asked.

The hallucinations were back. He wasn’t cured of the Mirakuru like he thought.


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade learns a few troubling things.

“Miss me?” Donna, or rather Slade’s hallucination of Donna, asked.

The hallucinations were back. He wasn’t cured of the Mirakuru like he thought. Unsure of how this was possible and what this meant for him, Slade strolled over to where Donna was standing and took her arm.

“We need to go.”

“We just got here. I haven’t even had a chance to congratulate them.” Donna argued.

She knew things were awkward between Slade and Felicity’s friends, but it didn’t explain why Slade was all of a sudden eager to leave. He was the one that suggested they crash the wedding in the first place, but now he wanted to leave. It didn’t make any sense to her.

“Donna, we need to leave.”

“Please. Please do.” Felicity said, crossing arms. She didn’t want to see Slade ever again, and she definitely didn’t want him crashing one of her best friend’s wedding. “Go.”

“Felicity-“

“Mom, I wanna see you, but I don’t wanna see or deal with him right now.” Felicity said. “I’ll catch up with you later, when he’s not here.”

“Let’s go.” Slade said.

He noticed there was three or four men in black suits slowly making their way closer to where he was standing. They were clearly ARGUS agents, arriving to detain him. Slade wasn’t going to let that happen, so he took Donna’s arm and led her to one of the exits. The men in suits weren’t able to intercept them because as they closed in, Lyla’s wedding cake got wheeled out in between Slade and the agents. By the time it was out of the way, Felicity’s parents were gone.

“What was he doing here?” John asked Felicity after Slade had gotten away.

“Probably trying to get me to talk to him or something. I found him in my house last night and told him to leave, but he wouldn’t. He said my mom wanted to see me and that’s why they were here. He’s gonna be gone by this time tomorrow.” At least, that’s what Felicity was hoping.

“Why didn’t you tell us he was here?”

“I didn’t want, well, this to happen. It’s your wedding day. I didn’t want my dad being in town to ruin it. And I hoped that Mirakuru-less Slade would have a little bit of common sense and take my warning seriously.” Felicity wasn’t cured of Mirakuru, did that mean that her father also wasn’t cured? Was he going to turn into Deathstroke again?

“What warning?” John asked, snapping Felicity out of her bubble.

"I said if he was still here tomorrow, I’d make a call to Lance.” She admitted.

 

“Well, that went well.” Donna remarked as she and Slade returned to Felicity’s house. “I don’t know why you even suggested going to the wedding if you were gonna demand we leave like three minutes later.”

“I had second thoughts. The bride works for the agency trying to arrest me for my actions this past fall. Crashing her wedding was not the best place to force Felicity to speak with me.”

“All of this was about making her talk to you?”

“That, and to rattle Oliver Queen.” He admitted.

He was giving her the answers she wanted, but his mind was on something else entirely. He wasn’t completely cured of the Mirakuru and he didn’t know exactly what that meant. Were his followers in the same situation? Was Roy Harper? What about Felicity? He had too many questions, and no way to directly get answers.

“Of course. It’s still about Oliver.” Donna scoffed. “I’m gonna go change.”

Slade took a seat on Felicity’s couch and turned on the news. A fluff piece about pet adoption was ending and the field reporter handed it back to the anchors.

“Mayor Moira Queen is under fire tonight, after citizens have expressed concern about her staff’s lack of response in regards to the string of attacks in the Glades by a still unknown assailant. Since the streak began, seven known victims have been hospitalized, with three still recovering and one having fallen into a coma.” The anchor read. “Mayor Queen didn’t address the situation until after the fourth victim was attacked. When asked about the situation at an event earlier today, she had the following to say.”

The broadcast switched to footage filmed earlier that day. “My office is working closely with the SCPD to put an end to these attacks. I have the utmost confidence that the situation will be resolved quickly.”

“What steps is your office taking to achieve that?”

“We’re pooling every available resource to investigate these assaults.” Moira said. “I’m afraid that’s all I can comment at the moment.”

Moira’s answers were well thought out, concise and, of course, completely for appearances. She’d had ‘full confidence’ in the SCPD for a week. The city had been ‘pooling all resources’ from the beginning. She was offering platitudes and everyone knew it, which was why citizens were so angry.

“A spokesperson for the SCPD has stated that they are looking for a single suspect, and to date, they aren’t sure what connects the victims or what the perpetrator’s motives might be.” The anchor continued to say. “It’s reminding many of the unrelated attacks that took place shortly before the Siege earlier this year. Citizens are reminded that if they witness such an attack to call the police and do not attempt to intervene. They are armed and extremely dangerous.”  Slade tuned the rest of the broadcast out.

Armed and extremely dangerous. The attacks reminded people of the Siege. Every victim so far had been rushed to the hospital in either serious or critical condition. It sounded a lot like the suspect in these attacks could be one of the Mirakuru patients. Slade pulled out his phone and started searching for stories about the string of attacks.

 

When the wedding was over, Oliver volunteered to drive Felicity home. Ray’d left earlier due to an emergency at Palmer Tech, so Felicity needed a lift anyway. Oliver also wanted to confront Slade in private, about several different things, including Felicity still having Mirakuru in her system.

They were driving away from the venue when Oliver’s phone rang. It was Moira. She demanded he get to the mansion right away, but refused to say why.

“I need to drop someone off before-“

“No time. You can bring them here.” She argued before hanging up the phone.

“And I thought today couldn’t get worse.” Felicity deadpanned.


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity runs into Moira, and then has a talk with her father.

Oliver was driving Felicity home when his mother called him and demanded he come to the mansion this second.

“I need to drop someone off before-“

“No time. You can bring them here.” She argued before hanging up the phone.

“And I thought today couldn’t get worse.” Felicity deadpanned.

“My mom isn’t that bad.”

“Your mother disliked me even before I told you who Thea’s father was. And when she tried to manipulate my alter ego into silence-“

“She tried to do what?”

“I was mostly Ravager when I worked out her secret. She tried to intimidate me into not telling you. Saying how you’d hate me for destroying your world or whatever. Ravager didn’t like that too much and kinda threatened your mom right back. Well, it wasn’t really a threat. I just pointed out that she was only acquitted because Malcolm tampered with the jury and it would be a shame if someone were to let that secret out.”

“You knew Malcolm was alive?” Oliver asked.

“I knew he was alive after your mother’s trial. Slade was keeping an eye on your whole family, as you know. When he left before the siege, I thought maybe someone had finally killed him. Too bad we weren’t so lucky.”

They reached the mansion and got out of the car. Oliver led the way inside and called out to his mother. Following her voice, they both wound up in one of the sitting rooms. Moira was seated on the couch, surrounded by papers.

“There you are. We need to discuss- oh, hello Ms. Smoak.” Moira said. They could both tell that she wasn’t happy about Felicity being there. “I need to speak with my son.”

Felicity opened her mouth to remark that she was the one who insisted Oliver rush over here and that her being here didn’t stop them from talking. Before she could, however, Oliver spoke. “Anything you tell me I’m gonna turn around and tell her, so there’s no point in asking her to leave.”

“’She knows that you’re-?”

“The Arrow? Yup.” Felicity said.

“Very well. The masked attacker in the Glades, where are you on that?”

“Nowhere.”

“Nowhere? You don’t have any leads? I thought you were looking into it.” Moira said in a disappointed tone. “People are frightened. This is reminding them of the days right before the Siege. When Mr. Wilson’s masked army was running amok.”

“You aren’t happy that that happened?” Felicity asked.

“I don’t know what you’re-“

“Look, I’m just saying. The only reason you became mayor is because one of Slade Wilson’s cronies decapitated the last mayor. And Blood was only mayor because he killed the previous one. So, maybe you’re a little glad that the Siege happened after all.”

“Felicity.” Oliver said.

“Right. Neither of you asked to be reminded about that.”

“I don’t understand what could be so important that you’d stop looking for this attacker. Isn’t saving this city and protecting its citizens your mission?” Moira argued.

“It is.”

“Then why haven’t you found any new information on the lunatic attacking people?”

“I’ve been a little distracted. Malcolm Merlyn is back in town and I’m trying to figure out what he wants. Given everything he’s done, I think he’s a bigger threat than whoever’s behind a series of random attacks.”

“Malcolm is here?” Moira asked in a scared tone.

“Yeah, that’s why we aren’t looking for the nutjob in the Glades right now.” Felicity said.

“Thea- we need to keep him away from Thea.”

“She doesn’t want anything to do with him, Mom. She’ll be fine.” Oliver said.

The conversation died shortly after Moira learned that Malcolm was in Starling. When she’d contacted the League to tell them he was alive, she thought they would’ve taken care of it. Clearly, she was wrong and now he was in the city, far too close to her family.

 

Oliver and Felicity left the mansion and he drove Felicity home. She spent the drive home thinking about Moira’s reaction to learning Malcolm was here and thinking of what she could do about it.

“What are you thinking about?”

“How to get Merlyn to leave Starling.” She answered honestly. “I know you don’t wanna hand him over to the League, but him staying doesn’t seem like a much better option. Especially now that Thea’s back.”

“Thea hasn’t seen Malcolm in months.”

“And I claimed I had no idea what my father was up to. You don’t know that she hasn’t seen him, you only know what she told you. You’ve got no way of knowing if she’s lying or not.” She pointed out.

Oliver stopped the car outside of Felicity’s house. She wished him goodnight and opened the door to get out. “Promise me you aren’t gonna do anything.”

“What?”

“Promise me you aren’t gonna try and kill Malcolm or chase him out of town. Or at least tell me before you do something like that.”

“Ok. I won’t kill him and I won’t chase him out of town without telling you.” She said before heading inside. She promised not to do those two things, but there was plenty of wiggle room in what she just agreed to.

Felicity walked into her house and took off her shoes. She loved high heels, but they weren’t kind to her feet. She’d just gotten the second one off when a light turned on in her living room. She was only moderately surprised to see Slade sitting there, almost like he was waiting for her.

“You seriously don’t have anything better to do?”

“The cure didn’t work on me.” He told her.

“Why would you tell me something like that when you know that I’m gonna turn around and tell Oliver?”

“Because if it didn’t work on me, I doubt it worked on you. Which would explain why you’re running around the Glades at night attacking people. Ravager.”

Felicity rolled her eyes, let out a scoff and put her hands on her hips. “What is this? A lecture? There’s nothing you can say to me that’ll have any value, so save your breath.”

“You know, for someone who’s so critical of my actions, you’re acting a lot like me.”

“You blamed Oliver for something he had no control over. I’m trying to get to the bottom of what happened to my friend. Its not the same. I’m not gonna try and take out an entire city to get even either. I just wanna know what happened to Sara.”

“Sara’s dead? Again?” Slade asked.


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade and Felicity have an argument about Sara, and then Slade wants answers from Oliver.

“Sara’s dead?” Slade asked. “Again?”

Felicity nodded.

“This isn’t the first or even second time someone’s thought she died. Are you sure she’s dead?”

“Am I-? I saw her body! She was shot in the chest with arrows and fell off of a roof!” Felicity shouted at her father.

“What are you two yelling about?” Donna asked as she stepped into the hallway.

“It’s nothing.” Felicity told her mother. “I’m sorry we woke you.” Donna looked between her boyfriend and her daughter before going back to bed. “Sara’s dead. And I’m trying to figure out how that happened.”

“And you believe running around the city at night, beating random people, will bring you closer to the answer?”

“Do you have a better idea? Because I’d love to hear what the man who experimented on his own daughter thinks about this. You claimed your plot was about avenging Shado. I’m trying to avenge Sara, but unlike you, I’m not blaming someone who had nothing to do with it.”

“Oliver wasn’t entirely blameless.”

“Yes, he was. Ivo was the one who shot Shado, not Oliver and not Sara. Ivo.”

“He gave Oliver a choice in who died.” Slade argued. “And he chose Sara.”

“No, he didn’t.” Felicity said. When she and Oliver were in Bali, she finally worked up the courage to get the whole story about Ivo out of Oliver. That was how she learned how Shado died and why Slade hated him. Oliver didn’t throw himself in front of Sara to pick her, he did it because he was trying to get Ivo to kill him instead. “How’d you even find out how Shado died? Did Ivo tell you? Did it ever occur to you that he might twist things around?”

“What happened to Shado has nothing to do with what we’re discussing.”

“Doesn’t it? Ravager exists because of her, because you wanted revenge. Sara’s death made her come back. And to make matters worse, you’re happy about it. You’re happy Sara died.”

“She wasn’t my favorite person, but I’m not happy she’s dead.” Slade said.

“The smirk on your face when I told you what happened says otherwise.” She said. “I’m exhausted, so I’m going to bed.”

“Does he know?” He asked as Felicity walked past him. “Oliver, does he know the cure wasn’t entirely effective?”

“Yeah, he does. It was a little hard to dispute that when he caught me interrogating someone about Sara.” She admitted. “I’d leave before he starts to wonder if your cure was faulty too and calls ARGUS.”

“I doubt he would take things that far.”

“Whatever, suit yourself.” Felicity said before walking into her bedroom.

 

Felicity woke up a little later than usual the next morning. She walked into her kitchen to find her mother making coffee. Slade was nowhere to be seen, which relieved her.

“Morning Mom.”

“Hey. You wanna tell me what’s going on with you now?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You remember that I’m your mother, right? You can’t hide things from me.” Donna said.

“All the lies and secrets I kept from you in the last 10 months beg to differ.”

“No, I knew that something was wrong, I just couldn’t figure out what it was.” She insisted. “Spill.”

“My friend Sara, she’s the one who- she helped me get better from the Mirakuru.”

“Ok, what about her?”

“She died. She died and only a few people know and I’m trying to figure out what happened and-“

“You’re trying to solve her murder? Shouldn’t the police do that?”

“No, because they don’t know she’s dead. No one knows that she’s dead. And I- I need to know what happened. I need to- someone killed my friend. I need to find them.”

Donna put her coffee down and moved to hug Felicity. “I’m so sorry, honey.”

 

While Donna was comforting Felicity, Slade had gone to find Oliver. There were several conversations they needed to have, but right now, his only thought was Felicity. He knew, after minimal research, that Oliver was living at the foundry and decided that was the best place to start. The entrance code hadn’t changed, so Slade let himself in.

“I know for a fact that Felicity wired over $10 million into your account after my plot was foiled. Why are you living in a dank, dark basement?”

“What are you doing here Slade?”

“We need to talk, kid.” He answered. “Felicity told me about what happened to Sara.”

“And you’re here to what? To gloat?”

“Not quite.” He didn’t understand why everyone seemed to think he was excited about Sara’s death. Would he miss her? No, but that didn’t mean he was happy she died. “We need to talk about Felicity. Or rather, the fact that she’s taken up the Ravager mantle again.”

“I know, and I’m trying to help her get better. Which is why you should leave.”

“Help her get better? You don’t get it, do you? She didn’t turn back into Ravager, that persona has been hiding beneath the surface for months. How are you helping her?”

“Ravager resurfaced as a result of her anger about Sara’s death and the fact that- she thought no one else was looking for answers, so Ravager came out. If we find out what happened to Sara, and we get answers, she’ll get better.”

“Do you even realize what she’s been doing?” Slade asked. “People are in the hospital. What happens when they leave and tell the police who attacked them?”

 

Moira was reading through proposals for the city’s green energy initiative when a throat cleared in the door way. “What is it, Raisa?” She asked without looking up.

“Raisa stepped out for a few moments.” Malcolm said.

“What are you doing here?”

“Can’t a man visit his ex-lover to say hi?”

“No, what do you want?”

“Someone tipped of Ra’s al Ghul about my survival after the Undertaking. It wouldn’t have been you by any chance? You were the one who threatened to expose me to him, after all.”

“It was a bluff. One that you fell for. I’d heard from…an old associate of ours that you feared him and I wanted to keep you away from Thea. That’s all. I don’t know who he is or where to find him. How would I even contact him?”

“Good, because if you were lying to me, then this conversation would’ve taken a very dark turn.”

“I don’t owe you any explanations Malcolm. I trust you can see yourself out.” Moira said, before turning her attention back to her paperwork. He left the room eventually.

Moira waited for him to be gone before letting out a breath. Her first time contacting the League clearly wasn’t successful. She needed to get rid of Malcolm. Permanently.


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade and Oliver argue, Moira approaches someone with an offer and Thea realizes something isn't quite right.

“Do you even realize what she’s been doing?” Slade asked Oliver. “People are in the hospital. What happens when they leave and tell the police who attacked them?”

He wanted to agree with his nemesis and tell Slade that he was just as worried about Felicity’s behavior as Slade was. He stopped short of saying that though, partially because of the bad blood between him and Slade, but also because his plan for helping Felicity wouldn’t be something Slade agreed with.

“I know exactly what she’s been doing. I’m the one who worked out what she was doing and why. You don’t get to walk in here and act like I’ve been in denial about her behavior. We’re working on helping her, I’m helping her. You showing up, given how much she hates you is gonna do nothing to make her less angry or less murderous.”

“Okay. if you have it all figured out, kid, tell me. What happens when her victims talk to the cops? What’s your plan if kills the next person she attacks? Will you stop her? Could you even manage to stop her?”

“I’ll do what I have to do, whatever I have to do, to help her. Even if that means saving her from herself.” He growled. “You wanna help her, be her father for once and do something for her. Leave.”

“You’re an idiot if you think I’m gonna leave and wait for you to fuck this up.”

 

Felicity spent the day with her mom, catching up. It was nice for her to see Donna and even nicer that Slade wasn’t around to put her even more on edge and make her angrier. Donna, of course, wanted to know all about Felicity’s dating life, or lack thereof, and started to nitpick about Felicity’s tendency to not be super adventurous. The hacker found that she didn’t care all that much, since her mother’s comments were coming from a good place and weren’t as much of an emotional minefield as anything Slade said. it was late afternoon when he finally came up.

“You shouldn’t be so hard on him.”

“Mom, he kidnapped me. He experimented on me and then turned me into a killer. I’d say I’m being too soft on him.” She said. “Why are you taking his side?”

“I’m not taking his side, I’m- is it that strange that I’d want you to be on good terms with your father? Your father who you spent decades without and I thought might’ve died but somehow came back into our lives.”

“If he was anyone else, or if he hadn’t done what he did, no it wouldn’t be weird. But he’s Slade Wilson, he’s Deathstroke and nothing he does will cancel out what he did to me.”

“You don’t-“

“Can we skip out on this ‘your dad isn’t evil, he’s just misunderstood’ scene please?” Felicity’s goth self said from the corner. “It makes me wanna vomit. Or kill someone.”

“I don’t wanna talk about this.” Felicity said standing up. “I’m heading out, I’ll see you in a few hours.”

She grabbed the bag she kept all of her weapons in and left her condo. There were still answers she needed to find about Sara.

 

Ravager had cornered one of the last names on her list of people to interrogate about Sara. The man was already scared when she stepped into the alley way, and his fear turned into sheer terror as she stalked closer to him.

“You’re gonna tell me everything I wanna know, or I’m gonna start cutting things off. And the parts I remove are going to be parts you’re gonna miss.” She threatened.

“I’ll tell you whatever you want. Just- please don’t hurt me. I have a family.”

“A lot of people do. Big deal.” She scoffed before getting down to business.

Twenty minutes later, she walked out of the alleyway, leaving the man in a sobbing, bleeding but alive mess, behind her. She rounded the corner and someone called out to her.

“I was hoping I’d run into you.”

“What do you want? Didn’t you promise the citizens of Starling that you’d find me and make me pay for what I’ve done? You aren’t changing your mind, now, are you, Madam Mayor?”

“I have a proposition for you. I think you and I could help each other.” Moira said. “And I’ll pay you handsomely for it.”

“I’m not a mercenary.” She spat out. “Or an assassin.”

“Let’s see what she’s offering first.” Goth Felicity said.

“I don’t need you to kill anyone, just incapacitate him.” Moira clarified.

“So, I incapacitate this guy, then what?”

“I hand him over to the people who want him dead. Malcolm Merlyn has plenty of enemies.”

“Malcolm Merlyn is the one you’re after? You should’ve led with that. I’m tentatively interested.” Ravager remarked.

“Good, so here’s-“

“Let’s not start hatching our master plan now. You haven’t earned my trust yet.”

“How would you propose I do that?”

Ravager smirked under her mask. She liked this, having Moira desperate enough to turn to her. “Oh, I don’t think anything you would do could suffice. I’m gonna have a little chat with a friend about you. If I decide you aren’t full of shit, I’ll be in touch.”

 

Felicity changed out of her armor and went to the foundry. She was sure Oliver was worried about what she might’ve done unsupervised. She arrived to find Thea and Oliver arguing behind the bar, surprised given how late it was.

“I don’t want your excuses.” Thea said, turning to walk away.

“Thea, will you please just give me two minutes to explain-“

“If you wanted a chance to explain, you shouldn’t have lied to me.” She shouted, before turning to leave the building. Felicity stepped into her path, blocking her exit. “Move.”

“No. Stop being a bitch and give your brother five minutes of your time.”

“Did you just call me a bitch? You don’t even know me.” She tried to shove past Felicity, but the blonde didn’t budge. “Get out of my way or-“

“Finish that sentence. I’m interested to see what happens.” Felicity said in a dark tone.

Thea didn’t respond, but swung a fist out towards Felicity, which the blonde blocked. Surprisingly, she followed the punch up by trying to land a second, harder blow on Felicity’s ribs. They tussled for a little bit, Felicity wanted to keep Thea there, but she didn’t want to hurt her. It became apparent that Thea had some martial arts training, and it wasn’t the kind she could’ve learned from a self-defense class. Eventually, though, she got the upperhand and pinned Thea to the bar.

“And here I thought you were a boring socialite with no brains. Where’d you learn those moves?”

“Felicity, I’m not gonna make my sister talk to me.” Oliver cut in. she’d nearly forgotten he was there.

“Fine.” She said, releasing Thea.

The brunette stormed out, livid about what had just happened. She was also concerned. Where did she learn to fight like that? That should be something she remembered, but when she tried to think about it, her mind came up blank. Why couldn’t she remember?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a head's up, there won't be a chapter next week due to boring, real life stuff.


	39. Chapter 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver comes clean about something and Thea realizes a few things don't quite add up.

Thea left Verdant feeling troubled. She was a little upset about how her confrontation with Felicity had ended, but she was even more surprised that there had been a confrontation to being with. She didn’t know a lot about Felicity, so she couldn’t say that the blonde’s behavior was out of character, but hers certainly was.

Thea was brash and reckless, but she wasn’t confrontational by nature, nor was she violent. Yet, as soon as someone tried to stop her from doing what she wanted, she lashed out and started a fight. She was curious and worried about how she knew how to fight like that and who taught her.

 

“You didn’t need to do that.” Oliver said after Thea stormed out.

“Yes, I did.” Felicity countered. “Look, you’ve been mopey for weeks about Thea avoiding you. Both of you are gonna have to hash out your issues eventually. I was just trying to cut out the middle man.”

“By fighting Thea.”

“Um, she attacked me, I just defended myself. Well, I might’ve egged her on a little bit, but she threw the first punch. Her shoulder might be sore, and her pride, but that’s about it. We both know that if I wanted to hurt her, I would’ve.” She countered. “And I feel like we’re skipping past something pretty important that just happened.”

He crossed his arms. “And what would that be?”

“Is he always this obtuse?” Goth Felicity asked.

“Did you not see Thea’s little martial arts demo? Do you have any idea where she might’ve learned those moves?”

“Self-defense classes while she was away probably.” He replied.

“Uh, yeah, no. I know that you learned how to fight in a literal ‘kill or be killed’ scenario, but those weren’t self-defense moves. Those were offensive moves that she had to have learned from someone as skilled as you or I in fighting. And when I say someone, I mean someone like my dad or Nyssa.” She pointed out. “How much do you know about where she went?”

“She told me-“

“So, nothing concrete. Just what she told you. I know she’s your sister and family’s complicated, but that’s not exactly a good thing. She’s back, she’s different and someone took the time to teach her how to fight. Who knows what she might’ve gotten up to?” She said before heading into the foundry.

Oliver followed her into the lair. “Where were you?”

“Who are you, my mother? I was chasing down a lead on Sara’s killer.”

“And when you say chasing down a lead-“

“He’s alive, scared shitless but alive and mostly unharmed. Don’t get your leather pants in a twist.” She said. “I didn’t want you to freak out and think I went on a killing spree or something. What did Slade have to say?”

“What?”

“I’m not stupid. He figured out I’m Ravager again, he came here to confront you, what did he have to say?”

“Nothing worth repeating.” He said, distractedly. Felicity’s words were playing over and over again in his head. Had something happened to Thea while she was gone? Was she hiding something?

 

After almost a full day of mulling things over, Oliver came to a decision. There was a rift between him and Thea because he’d lied to her about Malcolm. He wasn’t sure if continuing to lie to her was the best idea. Maybe it was time for him to be completely honest with her for once.

“Hey Speedy.” He said, leaving her a voicemail. “I was wondering if you could come to Verdant tonight. I know we didn’t get to talk last night but- there’s something I really need to tell you.”

Thea watched her phone ring and let the call go straight to voicemail. She was too weirded out by what had happened to want to talk to Oliver about it. Then, her phone chimed, indicating he’d left her a voicemail.

“Don’t you wanna get that?” The person across the table from her said.

“Not really. He’s probably calling to ask me to talk, so he can give me more excuses.” She answered. Still, she was curious, so she picked up the phone and listened to the voicemail before letting out a scoff. “Like I said, he wants to talk.”

“So let him. You don’t have to believe what he says or forgive him.” Malcolm told her. “And after he spins whatever story he’s gonna tell, call me and I’ll tell you how much of it is true.”

She said goodbye to Malcolm and went outside to return Oliver’s call. Malcolm watched her go and debated if he should move forward with his plan now or wait for the League to make a move. He decided to wait; he needed Oliver to be desperate to save Thea and he wasn’t quite desperate enough yet.

 

“Well, I’m here.” Thea said throwing her arms out when she walked into Verdant and saw Oliver waiting.

“Thanks for coming. Follow me.” He said, leading over to the foundry door. “It’s better if I show you.” She asked him what was going on, but he didn’t answer. They walked down the stairs and the lights in the foundry turned on. She looked around at all of the equipment and weapons. “I know this isn’t gonna mean much, I’ve given you no reason to believe me, but I lied all of this time to protect you.”

Thea walked through the lair and stopped in front of the mannequin Oliver’s hood was on. “You’re- you’re him.”

“Yeah.”

“That night with the hoods and the woman in black. That was you. All those times I got so mad at you for being a flake or telling something that I knew had to be a lie, you were saving someone’s life.” She said in realization. “Why tell me? Why now?”

“Because I’m tired of lying to you, and keeping you in the dark didn’t keep you safer, so my lying doesn’t even have a purpose.” He said. “And after what happened yesterday, I’m hoping that if I’m honest with you, you’ll be honest with me.”

Thea wasn’t entirely sure what he meant, so she walked over to where he had some arrows displayed. Trying to figure out what to say, she ran her fingers along one of them. Images started to flash through her mind. A rooftop near Rockets arena. A blonde woman in black. The feel of a feather against her cheek. A voice asking what she was doing there. The rush of adrenaline as she released an arrow.

“Speedy?”

Thea snapped back to reality. “The blonde woman in black, the one who showed up last year-“

“That was Sara.”

“I- I need to go, I need to process.” She said, rushing past him. What did those images mean? Were they connected to her learning how to fight? And what happened to Sara?

Not knowing what else to do, Thea drove back to the mansion. She wasn’t staying there most nights, but it had once been her home. She used to feel safe there. During the drive, other images popped into her head. Malcolm saying he was going to make her strong. Fighting a masked man. Her father saying they needed to take a trip to Starling. She couldn’t remember a lot of what had happened over the last few months, but as her memories returned, if they were memories, they all seemed to have one thing in common: Malcolm.

On her way to her room, she ran into her mother. Moira was ecstatic that Thea had come home, seeing it as a sign that her daughter had started to forgive her. “Malcolm’s here.’

“What?”

“Malcolm Merlyn, he’s here. He’s in town. I think- I think he did something to me. I don’t- I can’t remember.” She admitted. “He- I was so angry at you. I thought I could trust him and-“

“Don’t worry about Malcolm. I’m handling him.” Moira said confidently. Ravager had contacted her about an hour ago and said that she was on board for getting rid of Merlyn.


	40. Chapter 40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Moira plot, and Thea learns some important information.

“Don’t worry about Malcolm. I’m handling him.” Moira said confidently. Ravager had contacted her about an hour ago and said that she was on board for getting rid of Merlyn.

“What does that mean? You’re handling him?” Thea asked. Over the last two years, she’d come to realize how shady both of her parents really were. Was Moira going to take a hit out on Malcolm? Would it even work, given how skilled she knew Malcolm was at fighting?

“Malcom, he’s made plenty of enemies. And in this city, the Arrow isn’t the only person trying to protect people.”

“You can just say Oliver. He told me the truth already.”

“He did?”

“Yeah, he said- its not the point. Someone’s gonna help us what? Arrest Malcolm? Kill him? What’s the actual plan?”

“We aren’t going to kill him. The plan is to hand him over to some of his enemies and let them take care of him.” Moira told her. “And our ally is…less bothered with morals than your brother is.”

“I wanna help.” Thea declared.

“What?”

“Your plan, to make Malcolm go away, I want to help.”

 

Felicity came into the foundry after she called Moira and said she was on board to hand Malcolm over to the League. She’d already made her decision, but decided telling Oliver about it was probably a good idea. She didn’t want him to show up and ruin the plan. It was late afternoon, so she didn’t expect Roy or Digg to be there yet. Oliver was sitting in the middle of the foundry with his head in his hands.

“Telling Thea didn’t go well, I take it.”

“I don’t know. I told her I was the Arrow, said I wanted to finally be honest with her. Then, she said she needed to process and ran off.” He admitted. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”

“Well, at least she didn’t find out by seeing you almost beat someone to death. That’s how my mom found out I was Ravager. And didn’t Digg try to shoot you or something? Thea needing space is not the worst reaction you could’ve gotten.” It was quiet for several moments. “I agreed to help your mother with something.”

“My mom asked you for a favor and you agreed?” He asked.

“Well, she asked Ravager for a favor, but it’s the same sentiment.” Felicity admitted. “I’m gonna help her get rid of Malcolm Merlyn.”

“You promised me you weren’t gonna kill him.”

“I’m not going to.” She shrugged. “We’re getting him to leave town. I didn’t say anything about killing him.”

“Why are you telling me any of this?” Oliver wondered. “I know you don’t want me to talk you out of it, and you know I won’t help you. You tend to do whatever you want when Ravager takes over.”

“You’re right. I’m not asking for your help or your permission. I’m telling you so you won’t interfere. You hate Malcolm, but you don’t want Thea to suffer and if she loses Malcolm, she will. But on the other hand, he made his bed and now he needs to lie in it.”

“I’m surprised my mother came to you. I mean, after the siege-.”

“Well, I did help stop Deathstroke, so maybe she’s not as scared as she should be.”

“Or she’d just an idiot.” Goth Felicity said from the corner.

“I have to go discuss The Plan with your mother, so I won’t be down here to run the comms.” Felicity told Oliver. “And I’m sure Thea will come around.”

 

Malcolm sat in Thea’s loft, waiting for her to return. She’d gone to meet with Oliver, who claimed he just wanted to talk to his sister. In his voicemail, he said there was something he ‘really need to tell’ Thea. Merlyn was a bit curious about what that was. Was Oliver planning to tell her about Sara? Perhaps something about the Gambit? He wasn’t overly concerned, but he was a bit miffed that Thea hadn’t come back yet. It had been several hours.

 

Thea and Moira drove to the spot where Ravager had told Moira to meet her so they could discuss Moira’s master plan. It was an unoccupied office building near the edge of the Glades. They wouldn’t exactly blend in, but it also wasn’t obvious that they didn’t belong there. The mother-daughter pair stood there as the seconds ticked by.

“How do you know this isn’t a trap?” Thea asked after several moments. “This person could be friends with Malcolm after all. You clearly didn’t know him as well as you thought you did.”

“I’m not.” Felicity said, walking into the room. She was dressed in her full Ravager armor, mask and all. “A friend of Malcolm’s, that is. I want him gone just as much as you do.”

“You? Her? She’s the one who asked to help us? She sided with that Deathstroke guy. She tried to kill us!” Thea argued.

“No, I didn’t. And, if you recall, I was the one that took Deathstroke down so that he couldn’t kill you.” Ravager pointed out. “Not your brother.”

“You know-?”

“That Oliver Queen is the Arrow, yes. I’ve known for quite a while, before I became….well, this.” She gestured to herself. “We’re getting off topic. I want Malcolm gone; you want him gone. Let’s discuss that.”

“I’ve contacted Ra’s al Ghul. My plan is to draw him out so that you can incapacitate him and then we can hand him over to Ra’s.” Moira said.

“Easier said than done. We all know he’s not stupid. How do we draw him out?”

“I’ll do it.” Thea volunteered.

“What?” Moira and Felicity both asked.

“He doesn’t- he’s trying to lie low, he’s been for a while, but if something happens to me, he’ll- I’ll be bait or whatever. Maybe you take me to get revenge against the Arrow and-“

“Let’s leave him out of this. We’re on okay terms but kidnapping his sister isn’t a great idea. How about to abduct you because you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Felicity suggested. “Get something a little more solid from the League, Madam Mayor, then we’ll talk.” She turned to leave.

“Wait!” Thea called after her. “I wanna- I need to ask you about the Canary.”

“You mean Sara Lance. What about her?”

“I know there’s something no one wants to tell me, something about her.”

“She died.” Felicity said bluntly. “She was shot by arrows and then fell off of a roof.”

“You don’t think Ollie-“

“Killed her? No. I know he didn’t. Not only do I know he’d never kill Sara, but I’m also his alibi.” Felicity said. “The Arrow didn’t kill her, but someone did. We still don’t know who.”

After saying that, she left the building, and the Queens behind. Moira ushered Thea out of the building, while the brunette processed Ravager’s words. Sara was dead. She was killed by arrows. Thea had vague memories of shooting someone with arrows. Had she killed Sara?


	41. Chapter 41

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thea realizes something and mentions it at a really bad time

Thea didn’t remember driving back to Queen mansion. She was too lost in thought about what Ravager had told her happened to Sara. A week ago, the idea that she might’ve killed Sara would’ve sounded crazy. Now, she wasn’t so sure. She had fuzzy memories of shooting someone with arrows. There were also the fighting skills she’d developed out of nowhere and the periods of time she couldn’t account for.

She was at a loss about what to do, and then her phone rang. It was Malcolm. “You’ve been gone for hours. Where are you?”

“I went to the mansion to have dinner with Mom. We just finished.”

“I thought you were meeting with Oliver. Didn’t he claim to have something he had to tell you?”

“I did, then I went to see my mom. I shouldn’t have to justify seeing my mother to you.” She said in a snippy tone.

“Watch your mouth. What did Oliver have to say?”

“He gave me some story about the island and how much he missed me. And how he wanted to reconnect but didn’t know how and the lying was because he didn’t want things to change.” She said, being vague on purpose. “He didn’t say anything important and it was just more excuses.”

“Good.” Malcolm said before hanging up.

“Answering that call was a gamble.” Moira said from the doorway.

“If I didn’t. he would’ve tracked me here. One thing I got from you and Ollie is that I’m a good liar.” She said. “I should get back to my loft.” There was a lot she needed to think about.

 

When Felicity had left to meet with Moira and Thea, Oliver sat in the lair, wondering what he should do. He wanted to believe that Felicity was in control, that she wouldn’t go on a killing spree, but he wasn’t sure. Sara’s killer hadn’t been found. She was unraveling more and more by the day. He was genuinely starting to worry about how this would all end.

“Let me guess, kid, she’s getting worse.” Slade said, coming up behind him.

“No, she isn’t.” He said. “She’s hurt and lost, but that’s it. I can help her.”

“You can’t help someone that doesn’t want to be helped, and I don’t think she wants to be helped.” He said. “But if you won’t do what needs to be done, I will.”

“Hey, Oliver. We- what the hell is he doing here?” Roy said as he and Digg entered the lair. Digg pulled out a gun while Roy eyed his bow across the room and wondered how quickly he could reach it.

“Relax, I came in peace.” The Australian said. “Oliver and I were having a chat about Felicity. I have…concerns about her. Especially after the last few months.”

“Well, she wouldn’t be struggling with a massive amount of guilt if you hadn’t given her a drug that made her murder-happy.” John said.

Slade looked at Digg inquisitively before looking at Oliver. He realized that the team didn’t know about Felicity’s relapse for some reason. Just when he thought Oliver couldn’t have been dumber.

“Fine. I’ll deal with it myself.” He told Oliver before leaving. Felicity needed to be stopped, so Slade would stop her if that’s what needed to happen.

“Um, what was that?”

“It’s not important.” He said. “There’s been an uptick in drug related activity in the Glades. We need to figure out why.”

“And you don’t think its him?” Roy asked.

“Slade doesn’t have a drug business. And as much as I shouldn’t believe him, he really is worried about Felicity.”

They went out on patrol. An hour in, Felicity must’ve returned to the foundry, because they heard her over the comms. Just like the old days, she directed them to the right place to stop the drug deals that were going down and leaving the dealers for the SCPD to find. Patrol was otherwise uneventful and when dawn started to break, everyone changed and Roy and Digg left.

Felicity was working on a new piece of code and noticed Oliver wasn’t leaving. “Don’t you wanna go home?”

“Well, I took my bike here and it got a little banged up, so I was gonna just sleep here.” he answered.

“C’mon, I’ll give you a lift. That cot isn’t meant to be slept on.” She told him, standing up. He followed her outside where he saw Slade’s Lamborghini in the parking lot. She walked towards it. “Let’s go.”

“Your dad gave you his car?”

“I don’t know if ‘gave’ is the right word. I’m looking after it for safekeeping.” Slade hadn’t given her the keys to it, but she found them and he probably bought it with money he got by murdering someone, so she didn’t think taking it was that much of a crime. Oliver looked apprehensive. “Look, he probably knows I have it. He’s not gonna care. Stop being such a partypooper for five minutes.”

Oliver got into the vehicle and Felicity sped off towards his family’s mansion. She dropped him off and went home. An annoyed Slade was at her apartment waiting, demanding to know why she’d taken his car.

 

The following afternoon, Oliver was in the foundry training, and Felicity was running some updates on her computers when he got a call from Thea. She told him she really needed someone to talk to and she was pretty sure he was the only one who’d understand. He waited in Verdant for her and brought her down into the lair. She was a little surprised to see Felicity but didn’t say anything.

“I kinda- you know how you were honest with me, in the hopes I’d be honest with you? Well, now I think its my turn.” Thea said.

“Okay.”

“When I left, I wasn’t- I wasn’t alone. I went with Malcolm. I was so angry with you and Mom and after the attack I felt so weak and-.” She stopped. “He kinda- he trained me, trained me to fight.”

“We figured, but we didn’t know how to ask you about it.” Oliver admitted. “That’s not all is it?”

“No, he- I’m missing a lot of time. There’s chunks that I don’t remember, but when I touched your arrows, I saw- I saw something.”

“What is it?”

“I- Mom asked Ravager to help us get rid of Malcolm. I knew there was something I was missing, so I asked her about Sara. Ravager said she was murdered.” Thea said. “And when I touched one of your arrows, I saw Sara get shot. By arrows. I think- I think I might’ve had something to do with what happened to Sara.”

A series of loud crashes came from behind them and Oliver turned around to see a very angry Ravager standing there. “What did you just say?”


	42. Chapter 42

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thea and Oliver are confronted by an angry Ravager, while Malcolm decides it's time to spring his trap.

“I think- I think I might’ve had something to do with what happened to Sara.” Thea told Oliver.

A series of loud crashes came from behind them and Oliver turned around to see a very angry Ravager standing there. She was dressed like Felicity, but Oliver could see in her eyes that it was all Ravager. Her glasses had come off and she looked livid. “What did you just say?”

Thea jolted backwards in surprise. The blonde’s reaction both startled and worried her. One of the computer monitors had been thrown onto the ground and there were pieces of broken glass all over the floor. Thea froze on the spot.

Felicity didn’t like being ignored, so she stalked closer to Thea. She got as close as she could to the brunette without physically shoving Oliver out of her way. “What did you just say?”

“Felicity-.”

“Felicity’s not home right now!” She hissed at Oliver before turning back to Thea. “Repeat that sentence.”

Ravager was in her face. She knew she couldn’t beat her in a fight. On top of that, she was standing between Thea and the exit, meaning she had no way out. “I think I had something to do with what happened to Sara.”

“Meaning?”

“Felicity, Ravager, whoever’s in there right now, you need to calm down and back off.” Oliver said.

“No, she needs to explain. Now.” She growled.

“Wait, you’re Ravager?” Thea asked. The news startled her. Oliver was the Arrow. Felicity Smoak, his seemingly boring ex-assistant, was Ravager. Next, someone was going to tell her that Batman was Bruce Wayne.

“Yes, and if you don’t start talking, you aren’t gonna like what happens.” She said.

Oliver knew he could eventually stop Felicity, but he didn’t want to consider what it might take or what she might do before he could. “Thea, maybe if you could elaborate-.”

“Like I said, I’m missing chunks of time. Sometimes it’s only a few hours, other times it’s days.” She said. “But I’ve started getting….flashes I guess you could call them. I got one when I touched one of your arrows.”

“What did you see?”

“I’m on this rooftop, and a woman in black leather walks away from me. Something- for some reason, she turns around and sees me.”

“Then what?”

“I fire three arrows into her chest and she falls off of the side of the building.” Thea explained.

“What building is it?” Ravager demanded to know.

“It’s a few blocks away from here. It used to be an apartment building or something. Like eight stories tall, most of the windows are boarded up. Near the power plant.” She said.

The building where Sara was murdered. Ravager instantly knew Thea was describing Sara’s death, which meant she killed Sara. Weeks of searching for her friend’s killer and now she was right in front of her.

“Ok, let’s say I believe you. Why? Why would you kill Sara?”

“I wouldn’t, I- he made me do it.” She said, panicking.

“He made you do it?” She asked skeptically.

“Malcolm! He must’ve- he drugged me or hypnotized me or brainwashed me and made me do it. I didn’t- Sara was my friend, I didn’t- oh my god. I killed someone.” She broke down crying.

“Oh, she feels bad. Let’s kill her quickly then.” Goth Felicity said.

Ravager’s eye caught her reflection in the case housing Oliver’s suit. Felicity’s face stared back at her.

“No.” Felicity said.

“Why not?”

“Her father forced this on her, just like you were forced on me.” The reflection said. “She’s like us.”

“It’s different.” Ravager insisted.

“It really isn’t, and you know that.” Felicity said. “Now give me back my body.”

Thea was crying on the floor while Oliver was positioned between the two women, prepared to hold Ravager back while Thea escaped if needed. He watched Felicity appear to have an argument with herself and when it ended, watched her warily. Her face relaxed into a less angry expression and she put her glasses back on.

“You can stand down Oliver, its me.” Felicity said.

“But Thea-.”

“If anyone here knows what it’s like to be her right now, its me.” She said. “I’m not gonna hurt her.”

Oliver, reluctantly, relaxed his body and didn’t stop Felicity when she moved closer to his sister. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

“No, you aren’t. You were gonna kill me.”

“I was angry and it blinded me. I don’t wanna kill you, I wanna kill Malcolm. And I am sorry because I know what its like to feel what you’re feeling right now.”

“How could you possibly-?”

“I didn’t wake up and decide to become Ravager, I didn’t want to. You remember Deathstroke? He’s my dad. And I hadn’t seen him in years when he showed up in town. My ex showed up and- anyway, I got hurt and he used the situation to drug me, which caused me to become…well, you’ve met her.”

“Your dad did that to you?”

“Yes, and your dad, biological at least, made you kill your friend. And I remembered that I’m not the only person to be manipulated by someone I thought I could trust.”

“I still say we should kill her. It’ll hurt him.” Goth Felicity said from the corner.

“Shut up.” She told the hallucination.

“What happens now?” Thea asked.

Neither Oliver or Felicity had answers for her. Roy and John came into the lair a few moments later, and were shocked to find Thea there. Oliver explained that he’d told Thea his secret the day before and hadn’t found the right time to tell the others. The destroyed computer was explained away by Felicity.

 

Malcolm sat in his expensive hotel room. Nothing drastic had happened, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that his plan was about to completely fall apart. Thea had been distant lately. The League was quiet, almost too quiet. Oliver knew he was alive, but hadn’t acted on that information which was both out of character and concerning.

Sighing, he pulled out his phone and called Oliver. “We need to talk. It’s about Thea.”

Oliver might not have the threat of the League looming over him yet, but the sooner Malcolm talked him into confessing to Sara’s death, the sooner the blood debt would be cleared. After all, Oliver Queen would do anything for Thea, except tell her the truth.


	43. Chapter 43

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity plots, Moira has an important meeting and Malcolm decides its time to have a chat with Oliver.

Oliver, Roy and John went out on patrol, leaving Felicity and Thea alone in the foundry. The Arrow wasn’t sure that was the best idea, but Felicity seemed to have calmed down a lot. Additionally, he couldn’t stay behind without looking suspicious.

“So, what exactly just happened?” Thea asked after a long period of silence. “One minute you were gonna kill me, the next you were arguing with yourself and then you seemed fine.”

“I’m kinda- I have two personalities. Felicity, who you’re talking to now, and Ravager. When the Arrow fought Slade and his army last year, and cured everyone, I thought she was gone. Turns out she isn’t.”

“You still have Mirakuru? Does that mean Roy-?”

“No, he’s back to normal. We didn’t get the same version of it, so he’s cured, I’m semi-cured I guess. The ‘other’ me only comes out when I get angry. Seeing Sara’s dead body made me angry. Your brother giving up on finding out who did it made me even angrier and she took over.”

“So, she wants to kill me but you don’t.”

“No, she doesn’t. She wants to kill Malcolm. Oliver convinced me not to kill anymore, so handing him over to the League is, thankfully, the next best thing.”

“Are they gonna kill him?”

“Probably.” She answered honestly.

 

Moira walked into one of the sitting rooms at the mansion, looking for notes about the next city council meeting. She jumped about ten feet in the air when she saw a group of three people, dressed all in black, standing there.

“Moira Queen, you demanded an audience with Ra’s al Ghul.” One of them spoke.

“Yes, I- I have information about Malcolm Merlyn. He’s alive.”

“You already informed us of that. We are aware. If you have no other information-.”

“He’s in Starling. I can prove it.” She pulled her phone out and showed them a video of Malcolm arriving at the mansion the day he’d broken in to threaten her. “That was taken last week.”

“A week is plenty of time to disappear.”

“I have a bigger question than what his whereabouts may be.” Another one of the intruders spoke up. “Why tell us of his survival?”

“I have no delusions about what will happen next. He broke your code, you want to kill him and you’ll kill anyone who gets in your way. I don’t want the people in this city to suffer, again, because of him. I’ll deliver him to you and in return, you leave Starling and never come back.”

“Once we have him in our custody, we will leave the city. How do you plan to capture him though? You’re many things, I doubt a fighter is one of them.”

“I’m not the only person who wants him out of this city.”

“Still, I feel this is more personal than a mayor wanting to protect her constituents.”

“Malcolm Merlyn killed 503 people. He killed my first husband. He abducted my second. He tried to kill my son more than once and is trying corrupt my daughter. I want to protect my city, but more importantly, I need to protect my family.”

“Three days.” They said before leaving.

Moira took several moments to collect herself before calling Thea. They were in a huge time crunch and needed to come up with a plan now.

 

Slade had been keeping an eye on the foundry since his last conversation with Oliver. He saw Oliver’s sister arrive, his teammates and then Oliver, Roy and Digg left for patrol. His sister hadn’t reemerged and the club was still closed. He snuck into the building and crept down the stairs. He saw Felicity and Thea sitting next to each other in front of her precious computers.

“How are you going to defeat him?”

“That plan you had where I kidnap you, I know I wrote it off, but its starting to sound like the best option. I’ll lure him into a trap and when he shows up to save you.” Felicity made a fist and hit herself in her other hand with it, to symbolize she’d take care of it from there.

“What about Ollie and the others?”

“I’ll figure something out.” She said.

Slade snuck back upstairs. Felicity was planning to kill Merlyn and probably already knew how she’d keep Oliver from getting involved. Meaning Slade was the only person who could keep his daughter from killing him and sending her over the edge. He needed to act.

 

Patrol ended. The team came back to the foundry and while they were gone, Thea, Felicity and Moira had hatched their plan to draw Malcolm out and hand him over to the League. The blonde told the team she wouldn’t be there the next few nights and, as the others went to change, heavily implied to Oliver to stay out of a specific part of town.

“Maybe you should figure out why my dad’s still in town. If I’m not cured, neither is he.” She pointed out before walking away.

Oliver was going to follow after her, but his phone buzzed and he saw he had a voicemail. He listened and heard it was from Malcolm, who claimed he needed to talk to him about Thea. He called the man back and told him to meet him at Verdant around noon.

At the predetermined time, Oliver went to Verdant where his attempted murderer was already waiting. He waited for him to speak.

“I hear you’re trying to reconnect with Thea.”

“Of course I am, she’s my sister.”

“It’s not going well I take it. Maybe you shouldn’t have lied to her.”

“I didn’t come here for you to give me advice about repairing my relationship with her. You wanted to talk, talk.”

“You know, you really have no finesse. You wanna run headfirst into a fight and never take time to analyze. You really should rethink that tactic.”

“If you aren’t gonna tell me what it is you want, I’m gonna leave now.”’ He said, standing up.

“Trust me, you should really see this.” Malcolm said enigmatically. He pulled out his phone and started playing a video. It showed Thea killing Sara. “Now that you’ve seen that, you’re gonna listen to me very carefully because if anything happens to me, that video’s gonna wind up in the possession of Ra’s al Ghul himself.”


	44. Chapter 44

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity springs her trap on Malcolm and Oliver learns he's kinda been played.

“You know, you really have no finesse. You wanna run headfirst into a fight and never take time to analyze. You really should rethink that tactic.” Malcolm told Oliver.

“If you aren’t gonna tell me what it is you want, I’m gonna leave now.”’ He said, standing up.

“Trust me, you should really see this.” He said enigmatically. He pulled out his phone and started playing a video. It showed Thea killing Sara. “Now that you’ve seen that, you’re gonna listen to me very carefully because if anything happens to me, that video’s gonna wind up in the possession of Ra’s al Ghul himself.”

“Why did you make her do that? What do you want?”

“To give you some incentive. I want Ra’s gone. His death erases all blood debts to the League. I’ve now given you a good enough reason to want Ra’s dead too. I may have made her do it, but she still fired those arrows, and no one in the League will see the difference.” He told him. “The League is quiet, for now, but I doubt it will remain that way for long. When the time comes, I hope you make the right choice, for Thea’s sake.” He said as he stood up. He was about to leave when Thea walked in.

“Dad? What are you doing here?”

“Oliver and I needed to talk about something.”

“Ugh, why? He’s a liar. Why would you wanna talk to a liar?”

Oliver knew Thea was just pretending. He knew she needed Malcolm to think she was still on his side. it didn’t mean her words hurt any less or make him feel less guilty about his behavior in the past. He gave Thea a sad look before muttering about checking the office for something. As Oliver was walking away, he heard Malcolm’s answer.

“I wanted to make it clear to him that you don’t need him. He wants to reconnect with you, but he doesn’t get to demand that happens.”

“Thanks for the help, but I already made that clear to him.”

 

Oliver locked himself in the office and made a phone call to Felicity. He didn’t know exactly what her plan was to ‘take care of’ Malcolm, but he had a feeling she’d be enacting it soon. She needed to know about the video. He couldn’t let anyone see the video or find out the full truth of what happened to Sara.

“He has a video, of Sara’s death.”

“Of course he does.” She responded.

“What?”

“He did it for a reason. He used Thea for a reason. And if he’d told you what he did, and not proven it, would you have believed him? No. So, I assumed he had proof.”

“Yes, he does. And if anything happens to him, the video will get released.”

“I don’t know what I have to do to prove this to you, but I’m really smart, okay. I know what I’m doing.” She said with an edge to her voice before hanging up. Malcolm might have a video, but Felicity, or rather Ravager, had a modified version of her supervirus and finally had an excuse to use it. Now, all she needed was Malcolm’s phone.

 

Felicity texted Oliver a little after dusk. She told him there had been a sighting of Slade, with some armed men, on the edge of town. With him and the team thoroughly distracted, she turned her attention to the situation with Malcolm. She, with some help from Thea, rigged his phone so that it couldn’t send out anything other than text messages while she waited for her supervirus to destroy the original video, along with any copies he may have made.

Thea was just leaving her favorite sushi place, and walking to her car, which she’d parked in a nearby alley, when she heard footsteps behind her. Gripping her food, she turned around.

“Hello?”

“Well, you weren’t the person I was expecting, but you’ll do.” Ravager said with a sick grin.

“Do for what?”

“Oh, you’ll see. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. Unless you make me.” She answered. “Are you gonna come quietly or do I need to hurt you?”

“I’ll go, I’ll go. Just- please don’t kill me.” Thea begged.

“Only one person’s gonna die tonight. Get in the car.” Thea slowly got into the car and while she was starting it, she sent a text saying ‘SOS’ to Malcolm that Felicity pretended not to notice. Seconds later, her phone rang. Felicity took it from her and removed the battery.

 

Oliver, Digg and Roy went to the area where Felicity said Slade had been seen with others. Finding him was fairly easy, he wasn’t trying to hide. What surprised Oliver though was that he didn’t seem to have any henchman with him. He was just alone in the abandoned building.

“We should move in, before his friends come back.” Roy said.

“What if we move in and then they come back?” Digg countered.

“The longer we wait, the more likely that is to happen. Roy, go with Digg and take the back. I’ll move in from the front.” Oliver said. They got into position and moved into the builing. “Slade, whatever you’re up to, it ends now.”

“Whatever I’m up to? I’m trying to help my daughter, you dumbass.” He responded. “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t use Felicity as an excuse. You’re looking for another way to destroy the city.” Digg yelled. “She told us she knew you were up to something.”

“Oh, Felicity told you that.” He said, looking at Oliver. “She told you I was up to no good. And she sent you here. It almost sounds like she wants you distracted.”

“Why would-?” Roy started to say.

“Because if she were up to something, and you were here, stopping me from whatever nefarious deeds I’m up to, who’s gonna be there to stop her? Better yet, why not have you chasing after the one person able to stop her?”

Oliver had assumed from the beginning that this was a diversion. What he hadn’t expected was that Felicity sent them after Slade so that Slade couldn’t interfere with her plans. Oliver lowered his bow and started to feel dizzy.

“I’m sorry, kid, but I can’t let her do this.” Slade said as the knock-out gas getting pumped into the building started to take effect. When Oliver and the others were out cold, Slade got into his car and drove into the city.

 

Felicity had Thea tied to a chair in the same building where she’d first met Moira and Thea to concoct this plan. Thea’s performance of acting scared was impressive. Ravager paced in front of her, looking every inch like the deranged murderer the city thought she was.

“What are you gonna do to me?”

“You’re the mayor’s daughter. You go missing, everyone’s gonna notice. I need the city’s attention.”

“Too bad you won’t be getting it.” A voice said from behind her.

A smile formed on Felicity’s face before she turned around. Malcolm was here. Time to spring the trap. She turned to face him. “Um, who are you?”


	45. Chapter 45

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ravager faces off against Malcolm, but they're interrupted by an unexpected visitor.

“You’re the mayor’s daughter. You go missing, everyone’s gonna notice. I need the city’s attention.”

“Too bad you won’t be getting it.” A voice said from behind her.

A smile formed on Felicity’s face before she turned around. Malcolm was here. Time to spring the trap. She turned to face him. “Um, who are you?”

“The man who’s gonna kill you.” He said, drawing his sword.

“Okay, drama queen.” She scoffed, drawing one of her own swords. “Sit tight, sweetie. I gotta kill this guy, then we’ll have a talk.”

Malcolm and Felicity began circling each other, assessing each other. Neither of them made a move to strike just yet, using the time to try and find a weak spot to attack. She was a little surprised that he hadn’t bothered to bring his bow with him. He was an archer after all, why leave his main weapon at home?

“You have no idea who you’re messing with.” Thea insisted, playing the scared kidnapping victim role. She needed Malcolm to believe it wasn’t a trap, which meant acting like she believed he’d save her.

“Some ninja wanna-be.” Ravager responded with an eye roll. “Won’t be the first one I’ve killed. Or the last. First time I get to make someone else watch though. And you should be more worried about what I’m gonna do to you after I kill him.”

Hearing her threaten Thea, again, sent Malcolm over the edge. He moved in and attacked, swinging his sword at her. She moved out of the way and blocked him with her katana. For several minutes, Felicity let him keep taking swings at her and just dodging out of the way or blocking them. Eventually, she got bored and began to truly fight. It didn’t take long to relieve him of his sword. When it was knocked out of his hands, she picked it up and threw it to the far side of the building.

“You’re really gonna kill someone who’s unarmed?” He asked as she advanced on him with her own sword drawn.

“Please, I’m not an animal.” She said as she threw her own sword away from where they were fighting. “Besides, beating you to death with my bare hands is gonna be way more fun.”

Most of this was acting, Ravager playing the role of the big, bad, scary mercenary. She wasn’t going to lie, though, and say that a part of her didn’t want to beat Malcolm to death for what he’d done to Sara.

They began fighting hand-to hand, him using a form of martial arts similar to akido, while she alternated being Krav Maga and Wing Chun. Malcolm had more experience, and thus more technical skill in fighting. Felicity was a lot stronger though, thanks to the Mirakuru. Any advantage Malcolm had from being more experienced was made up for by Felicity’s strength and her more violent mental state. He was able to hold her off for longer than most people would’ve been able to, but then he made a tiny mistake that gave her an opening to hit him in the ribs, which was a vulnerable target. She then had an even greater advantage. She quickly knocked him onto the ground and just started kicking him in the ribs, using a considerable level of strength. He rolled onto his back and she bent down over him to hit him in the face. She got one hit him before getting knocked off of him.

Momentarily stunned, she got to her feet and found Deathstroke standing there. He wasn’t supposed to be here. This was going to be a problem.

“Stop this. Now!” He growled.

“Nah, I don’t think I will.” She responded. She walked over to Malcolm, to resume what she’d been doing. Slade grabbed her arm and stopped her before she could hit him again. “Why are you even here? This isn’t your fight.”

“I’m trying to stop you from making a mistake.”

She grabbed his arm and used his size against him to break his hold on her. Knowing he wasn’t going to leave, and was a bigger threat, Felicity used the few extra seconds she’d bought to kick Malcolm in the head, knocking him out.

“I really don’t think it’s a mistake.” She said, turning back to Slade, about to attack.

“Maybe not now, but that fog of rage is gonna lift and you’re gonna regret doing this.”

“No, I won’t.” She said, taking a swing at him. “Why would I regret making Sara’s killer suffer?”

“Because,” he blocked her swing, “you don’t want to kill anyone.”

“I didn’t want to kill anyone last year and you still made me. What difference does one more dead body make?” She said, swinging again.

“All of the difference.” He argued. “You can’t just kill him.” He kept dodging her blows, hoping she’d tire herself out and give up. He was fighting only defensively, not wanting to hurt her.

“Who said anything about me killing him?” She asked.

“Someone else kill him is the same thing as killing him yourself.” He said. “His death won’t bring Sara back.”

“You are the last person who gets to give me that lecture. You were willing to kill this entire city because Oliver couldn’t save Shado. You fucking hypocrite.” She growled.

“You know, she does have a point.” Slade’s hallucination of Donna said from the corner.

“Not helping.” He said.

“It wasn’t supposed to. Little Lisy isn’t so little anymore. You gotta let her make her own mistakes.”

While Slade was focused on his hallucination of Donna, Felicity rushed at him. She was able to knock him onto the ground and got him in a choke hold. He wasn’t able to break her hold before passing out.

“Now, where was I?” She asked as she stood up.

Then, the door at the back of the warehouse was thrown open. Three people dressed like League members came in. Seconds later, the other door was knocked down. Oliver, Diggle and Roy ran in.


End file.
